July 27, 2025 • 30 mins
Dean tackles a range of home improvement questions — from repairing a cracked sewer pipe to choosing between foam or blown insulation. He also dives into upgrading your home’s electrical panel and shares insights on construction quality and choosing the right furnishings.
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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.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
On the iHeart Radio app.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We are taking this lazy, beautiful summer Southern California day
and we're talking about patio furnishings today. But we have
approached the second hour of the show, which means it's
time to go to the phones. I'm going to give
the number out one more time, so because there's always
room on the callboard for you, and I always pick
calls at random, So whether you called in an hour
(00:32):
ago and have been waiting, sorry, or whether you call
in five minutes from now, everybody has the same chance
of getting on the air. The number to reach me
eight three three two. Ask Dean eight three three the
numeral two. Ask Dean eight three three two. Peep, ask Dean.
Just spell out askting Yes, there's one extra letter there.
(00:55):
You technically you don't have to dial the en, okay,
but I'm not going to read it that way because
then it would be eight three three to ask Dea,
and we'd be doing a completely different show, a totally
different show than this. So just just spell out Dean
because that's my name. There You go, all right, let's
go to the phones. I want to talk to Joyce. Hey, Joyce,
(01:18):
welcome home.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yes, I have a problem with my seward. The roots
have gotten into the pipe, and it's a clay pipe.
It's probably about fifty feet long from the house to
the curb. And I have had several different people tell
me about different things. One is replacing the pipe where
(01:43):
it's cracked and the roots are coming through and doing
that and then putting a lining in, which is quite
a bit more expensive. And also my son had heard
about something that you can put through the pipe that
coats a thing is that goes through there's a cone
(02:05):
that goes through or something. And I'm not sure what's
a good way to go. I'm eighty five. I will
probably only be in this house another fifteen years if
I'm lucky, So I don't want to put a whole
lot of money into it, but I would like it
fixed where I don't have problems.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Okay, all right, Well, absolutely a fair question. So here's
the thing with sewer pipes, Joyce. It's never there's never
just one single magic bullet answer, because there are a
lot of factors involved. One of the factors is one
(02:45):
of the factors is where is this sewer pipe traveling under? So,
for instance, if the sewer line is just as it
leaves your house and heads out to the street, if
it's just let's say yard, if it's just low on
up above it right, then for an old clay pipe,
and that is an old system. And believe me, we
(03:07):
haven't done it that way in a long long time,
and for good reason because because clay pipes, clay pipes,
they were never a good idea. Okay, because clay pipes
never seal where the scene is, They never seal properly,
and so they always leech a little bit of moisture.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I don't mean that in a gross sense, it's just
that there's water running through them, they leach a little bit.
And if there are any nearby trees, guess what trees
are designed to do find water. So they're basically trees
don't automatically, contrary to what a lot of people think,
you can put a sewer line right next to an
old growth, massive tree and never ever ever have a
(03:53):
root problem because trees aren't like, oh, hey, there's a
sewer pipe, I think I'll crush it. No, that's not
what they do. Trees are looking for water, and it
starts out as microscopic roots that find their way and
find this these moisture, These little tendrils find the moisture
in the soil, and then they're like, hey, guys, regular
(04:14):
regular source of water right here. More roots come over,
they grow, they grow. Next thing they know, the roots
get bigger, and all of a sudden, one of the
roots actually gets big enough where it actually pops the
clay pipe that in the seam or fills up the
inside with really with a whole mesh of roots on
the inside of a clay pipe. So the point is this,
(04:34):
very simply, what we want for you is a sewer
line that is clear, that is flowing, and that does
not in any way shape or form leech moisture out
into the yard so that tree roots are not attracted
to it. Okay, So the clay pipe was never a
good idea for this.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So here's the thing where it does it run. Because typically,
as invasive as this sounds, the least expensive way typically
to replace a sewer line is to dig up the
old sewer line and just get down in there in
that trench, pull it out, and replace it with a
(05:18):
nice solid, solid sealed these days in southern California ABS
plastic sewer line or a PVC plastic sewer line. It
doesn't leak, it doesn't leach moisture out, and it will
last you know, another you know, fifty two one hundred years,
unless there's an earthquake in some the ground shifts. All right,
that's typically the least expensive. Now, that's a lot of trenching,
(05:42):
and it's a lot of soil, and then you got
to put it all back and then you patch in
the yard. But if it's just yard, if it's just
grass and plants, no big deal.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
The problem comes.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
The problem comes when you know a lot of people's
sewer lines pass underneath walkways, sidewalk driveways. Some people sewer
lines are running underneath their driveway, which means not to
get to it, we've got to actually tear out the
driveway and then replace it. So this is an important
(06:14):
enough question, Joyce, we're up against a break. I'm gonna
pop you on hold, and I'm gonna finish this up
right on the other side of the break, because I
want everybody to understand what it is that they're looking
at when it comes to their sewer lines. We'll take
a quick break and more of your calls. Your Home
with Dean Sharp, the house whisper.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Glad to have you aboard, and we're talking about your home. Yeah,
your home, and I'm god, I'm glad you finally made
it because we've been talking.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
About your home all morning.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I don't know if the neighbors told you, but yeah,
I'm sorry, sorry about that. I should have warned you
that we were talking about your home today. So I
got Joyce on the line. We're taking calls right now.
Joyce has got old clay sewer pipes and she's gotten
a lot of different bits of info from different service
providers about how to fix this because she's got roots
(07:09):
inside the sewer lines and you know, as it happens.
So before the break, I explained why this kind of
thing happens, that trees don't just automatically, you know, rush
over to sewer lines. It's got to be moisture leaking
out of the lines and then you get roots inside.
So when it comes to replacing them, typically the least
expensive way Joyce to do this is with a big trench.
(07:31):
Dig a trench, dig up the sewer line, replace it
with a brand new one. Done and done, and it's over.
The problem comes is with these alternative methods is if
let's say the sewer line runs under the driveway or
a sidewalk, and now we've got to tear out a
driveway in order to get to the sewer line and
(07:52):
replace a driveway. So the more expensive method that's less
invasive would be a couple of different method It's uh.
I don't think we would do this with clay, by
the way, but there is epoxy high pressure epoxy coating
on an existing cast iron line or a broken plastic
ABS line, we can do a blown in high pressure
(08:15):
applied epoxy coating in which we're coating the inside of
the pipe with a with a layer of epoxy that
seals up the cracks and and restores the inner lining
of the pipe. Another way of doing but with but
with clay. I don't think that works with clay. Uh
uh off the top of my head, because the joints
(08:35):
are awkward and weird and hard to seal with the epoxy.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
With a clay pipe, I believe, I believe that there
is the uh the blown in epoxy lining literally like
a sock that we blow in under pressure and then
it hardens up and becomes a pipe. Inside the pipe
now the diameter is slightly smaller, obviously, but not too much,
and it comes a permanent fix as well. A third
(09:02):
way of approaching this is where when conditions allow, is
we take a flexible, brand new pipe material and this
does work really well with clay. We actually run a
line if we can through the clay pipe, a pole
chain or a pole rope, and then near the house
(09:26):
there is going to be attached to the head of
this long new flexible pipeline. There is like a big
steel cone that we then pull through the old clay line.
And what the cone does It literally busts apart the
clay pipe as we pull it through, and we're literally
(09:48):
using the channel that the clay pipe made to pull
through a brand new sewer line to thread it through,
and so we destroy the clay and take its place
with a new sewer line. These are all more expensive methods,
but they're more expensive because they are non invasive on
the yard to varying degrees, don't tear up the yard.
(10:11):
We don't tear up the driveway.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
That's why they're more.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
So they're more expensive than trenching, but they're less expensive
than replacing your driveway and your sewer line together.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Yes? Yes, I see.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Taking the time to explain that all to you so
that you have perspective on the salute, because I can't
tell you sight unseen which is the right answer for
your yard. But now that you know the context of
what's going on, now you can evaluate what these various
plumbing companies are offering you.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
And you really really should.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Take as many bids as you can from reputable plumbers
and get that advice, because I believe that when you've
got the right plumbing companies out there bidding the job,
you're going to start to see the bids grouping, clumping
into one area of advice. Like you take four or
five estimates and you'll find that three or four of
(11:11):
these guys are all suggesting pretty much the same thing
in pretty much the same price range. And now you're like, Okay,
now I know what this is going to take and
what it should cost.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Okay, okay, So the cheapest though, is just trans trenching it.
If you don't have any cement to deal with.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, if there's nothing in the way. Honestly, it doesn't
take long to get a trencher out there, tear it
to trench down. Because we know where the pipe is.
We can find it with a by running a sensor
through the pipe. We'll know exactly where the pipe is.
And then boom, they just dig down, they find the pipe,
they pull it out, they pop a new one in it,
(11:54):
fill the trench back in. Bob's your uncle. You got
a new sewer line. But it does tear up the
yard a bit. And that's the cost of that, is
tearing up the yard.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, but that'll go back, it.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Will grow back.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Oh well, I appreciate you explaining all that to me.
I really do so. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Well, thank you Joyce. Thanks for your question and good
luck on that. But you know what, it's it's information
and perspective that makes all the difference here, It really does.
All right, Okay, let's you know, we have time to
start another call and let's talk to Ed. We're going
to get Ed started. Well, probably have to go to break,
but Ed, welcome home.
Speaker 5 (12:42):
Thanks. Jem.
Speaker 6 (12:43):
I got a question. I have a nineteen thirty two
to revival home, and we have no insulation in the walls,
So I want to know what is more efficient, the
blown in insulation or the palm. And then my kind
of related question is how do I know I've talked
to other vendors, other contractors, and one guy says one thing,
(13:07):
another person says another thing. So how do you know
that they're telling you the truth, are telling you accurate information?
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Okay? So what do they?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Just give me a quick, quick, real quick example of
what the guys are telling you that are contradicting each other.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
So one person says that it's better to do it
from the inside. Another person says it's better to do
it from the outside. The people that say do it
on the inside say that you'll have holes on the
outside and they'll look ugly and hard to match the stucco.
So I'm gonna conflicting information.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Okay, got you? Got you?
Speaker 1 (13:45):
What is the inside? So it's the nineteen thirties tutor
revival home. What do you so I assume you've got
plaster walls on the inside of the house unless it's
been renovated and replaced with drywall.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
No, you're correct, is the laughing plaster walls.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Okay, all right, that's the information we need.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Ed.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
I'm gonna pop you on hold.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
We are going to take a break and we'll come
back and solve his problem of an uninsulated exterior home.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp. That's me the
house Whisper.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
We are right in the middle of taking calls. I've
got Ed on hold. I'm gonna unhold him. Unhold that man. Ed,
Are you still with me?
Speaker 5 (14:33):
I'm here to you.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Okay, So we're talking Ed before the break. Ed has
a nineteen thirties Tudor revival. Oh, that means he has
a Tutor home that was built in the nineteen thirties.
Tutor revival. Anything that says revival means that, you know,
you're building a style of home that is very much
belongs to.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
An earlier period.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
And if you do that now you technically as an architect,
you get to call it a revival. So he's got
a Tutor style home. That means he's got you know,
smooth stucco on the outside of his home with beams,
you know, embedded in because it looks like a timber
framed home, even though it's not a timber framed home.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
It looks like a Tutor timber frame home.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
And it was built in the nineteen thirties, and it
has no insulation in the exterior walls. And he is
kind of done with that. It's time to insulate this house.
It's a great house, it's worthy of it. And he's
getting conflicting signals. One is the question of what kind
of insulation should you use? Foam expanding foam or foam
(15:41):
insulation or blown in I should say I shouldn't say expanding,
I should say clothes sell foam or blown in. And
the question is where do you apply it? From the
outside in or from the inside out. Right, So, a
nineteen thirties Tutor revival house in the thirties, we don't
have dry wall. We have lath and plaster walls, which
(16:02):
we we get little boards across, and we've got plaster
on the inside instead of dry wall, and on the
outside we've got stucco and we've got beams. So here,
let me answer the easy question first ed, there's nothing
wrong with blown in cellulose insulation for the wall cavities.
(16:25):
It's going to be a vast improvement. But if you
ask me, if you go into all the trouble, then
I'm saying foam. I say foam because foam is going
to get to every little area, unlike cellulose, which will
eventually settle a little bit. All right, it gets blown in,
they'll pack it in as tight as they can, but
(16:46):
it's just the nature of cellulose fiber insulation that it
will settle over time, which means you'll end up with
little gaps in your insulation. You know, little holes in
the boat as it were, not big holes, but some holes.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
As far as.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Thermal envelope, the foam best thermal envelope there is. It
seals tight stud to stud, it hardens up, it'll never shift,
it'll never move. And it also does a lot of
air ceiling too while it's doing its insulating job, which
makes a significant difference. Air ceiling is something that we
(17:25):
only in recent years are spending a lot of time
on the general public as not really caught up with
the idea of how important air ceiling a house is.
So that's why I will tell you right off the
bat that I'm going to prefer the foam inside the
walls as opposed to the blown in. Okay, Now, the
problem of how to get it in there we're talking about.
(17:47):
I mean, there's nothing pretty about this, ed As. I'm
sure you're aware. We're talking about opening up a hole
every sixteen inches along every exterior wall of the house
because you've got studs sixteen inches on center, and every
stud bay has to have insulation blown into it.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
And if we scope the walls and find out that
you have fire blocking, which in the thirties, it's a
toss up as to how much fire blocking there is.
And by fire blocking, I mean a cross block in
between the studs, kind of midway up the wall. If
we've got fire blocking, then we need to have a
hole top and bottom, both every sixteen inches. That's a
(18:33):
lot of holes. Okay, it's a lot of holes. Is
it worth doing? Yeah, it's totally worth doing because it
radically changes the house. It brings that nineteen thirties house
as far as thermal insulation into the twenty first century
and will make a radical difference. But it's a lot
of holes. So here's my final thought. The issue of
(18:57):
whether to do it on the outside or the in
side has to do with the fact that those holes
will get patched, but then whatever the surface is out
there has got to flow with the patch. Okay, So
this is your resolution that you're going to have to make.
If we go from the outside in, Okay, the stucco
patches of these holes, they're going to be visible, all right. Fortunately, though,
(19:23):
it doesn't mean tearing up all the stucco on the house.
It just means that the very final coat of stucco,
which is the finished coat, the finished coat of stucco
that everybody sees, is only an eighth of an inch thick,
and it basically, if you're going to go from the
outside in, you're going to need to resolve that after
the holes are patched by the insulating company, then you're
(19:44):
going to get a stucco guy out there who is
going to go over a new finish coat for the
entire house, wall to wall, corner to corner, and you'll
never see the patch, You'll never see the holes again
because the finished coat will be consistent, uniform and cover
every thing everywhere.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
The other alternative is to do it from the inside,
and from the inside honestly, drilling holes into a plaster wall,
and patching the plaster is not having to redo the
whole wall. It's just a lot of patches that have
to be done right and then smooth coated and sand.
You're kind of looking at the same situation inside or
(20:23):
out either way. The only other hesitation I have is
that you've got a tudor home, which means that at
least on the corners and in some areas, we may
have to drill into some of those decorative beams in
order to get to the sixteen inch. And hopefully that's
not the case. Hopefully there's a way always to avoid
(20:45):
the wood. But I would get that advice from the
insulating companies and find out, so plaster on the inside,
which is a concretious surface, a concrete kind of surface,
stucco on the outside, which is a concrete kind of surface,
disrupting all the interior walls and stuff you've got hanging
on them, versus going from the outside and just restuck
(21:10):
going those areas. I'm probably leaning exterior on this one,
although with enough insulating guys telling me no, no, no,
here's why we got to go interior, I could be swayed.
But I think I'm leaning to the exterior treatment just
because I think it's the least invasive as it goes.
(21:31):
And that, my friend, is the best advice I can
give you. And again, hopefully just give you the whole
orbit picture so you can make the best decision. Get
multiple bids. That's the key. You'll see the trend moving
towards the right answer almost inevitably. All right, up next,
more of your calls. Your Home with Dean Sharp the
house Whisper.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Design matters most when it comes to transforming your home.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
That's what I'm here.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I'm on my soapbox every weekend talking about better design
for every home, not just the big houses on the
hill behind the gates. I'm talking about your home. I'm
talking about that little home, that small home. The smaller
home gets by the way, the more important design becomes.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
It really is true.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
When transforming your home becomes an issue of inches, the
right thing in the right place, design becomes critical. Who
as I've talked to yesterday, I was talking about one
of my friends yesterday. She's just kind of enamored right now.
She's watching these shows on not little on RV design,
(22:45):
talk about recreational vehicles, talk about a design mattering most right,
you just have literally inches inches inches inches, the game
of inches of all the things that could get packed
into an RV, the efficiency, the space, the flow, all
of that. I love that kind of stuff. And so yeah,
of course, you know it's lovely to walk through and
(23:09):
work on a twelve thousand or fifteen thousand square foot property.
Of course, of course you know who doesn't want to
do that. But I also get as much satisfaction, truly, honestly,
if you tell me, Okay, I've got this shed in
my backyard and we need to make it do this,
I'm like, yeah, okay, that's a challenge. Let's work on
(23:30):
that and we get it just right. So yeah, in
all things, your home design matters. Post Okay, we're still
taking calls. I think I've got time for one more.
Let's talk to Derek. Hey, Derek, welcome home.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Oh how are you sir? How can I help?
Speaker 5 (23:53):
So? I have a house built in a fifty and
wanted to upgrade the panel. So with the upgrading the panel,
do I need to upgrade the wiring in the house
because it's just the hot and the neutral with the
sheeting on it, and then the ground is just ran
(24:14):
through the house. Do I need to upgrade the wiring.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Wund Yeah?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
I mean so are you saying are you saying that
you I could I miss this? Are you saying that
you don't have outlets in the house with the third
prong with a with a ground wire on them, or
or you do.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
No, That's exactly what it is.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
There's no third problems, just the two slat trail the receptacles.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Okay, all right, all right, so let me address that.
I'm gonna address it in two two different answers here.
So upgrading your electrical panel has nothing to do with
having to change the wires in your home, all right.
It will not be a requirement. The power company is
not like, hey, you're gonna if we're going to change
this out you can have. They don't care. That's not
(25:03):
their issue, that's not their purview. So if you've got
like one hundred amp panel, I'm assuming that you want
to upgrade to a two hundred damp panel, which is
the typical that these days, a two hundred damp panel
is the standard panel for the moderate sized American home. Okay,
even though we've got all sorts of fixtures in our
house that are drawing less and less energy than ever,
(25:25):
Like all of the light bulbs in your home now
probably draw the equivalent electricity of two of your old
incantescent light bulbs when they're all on. Okay, but we've
got things like electric vehicles that are charging and all
this kind of we have other demands. So the point
is two hundred amps pretty typical for an upgrade of
a panel that all happens without reference to the interior wiring.
(25:52):
And what I mean by that is, you know, you
call the power company, you say I want to upgrade
a panel, You get a licensed electrician. They're going to
you work with the power company and get the permit
and switch out the panel, and all of the circuits
that are running into your existing panel will run into
as they stand, will run into the new panel. With
(26:12):
the new panel, though, you'll have more power coming to
the house, and you'll have more room for other circuits
and greater demands on it. But nothing else inside the
house has to change in that regard period end of sentence.
That's an independent switch out. However, should you upgrade the
(26:33):
electrical throughout the house. Because you have a home where
the outlets have no third prong, in other words, you
have ungrounded outlets running throughout the house. That's a whole
nother magilla, as they say, because if you've got conduit
metal conduits running through your home, that these and just
(26:57):
wires running inside the conduits not so much of a
big deal, because those conduits will allow an electrician to
pull that third ground wire through to each outlet location
and then switch out the outlets through a three prong
outlet and you're good as gold boom done. If you don't,
(27:17):
if you've got like what people call romex or a
sheathed cable, you don't have a conduit to pull new
wires in. That's going to be a much more extensive
thing to bring grounding wires to every outlet. It can
be done, and it can be done without tearing up
all the drywall and everything in the house, but it's
more invasive, and it's going to take some drywall patching
(27:38):
here and there, and likely the electricians are going to
try and fish down a ground wire in through the
top plates of the walls, down through the walls to
get to each outlet and then run them all back
to the panel. That may require a little bit of
drywall patching here and there. That can be done too,
but it's more labor intensive and a little more expensive
(27:58):
along the way.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
A third option, okay, is.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
An even easier one and the one that quite honestly,
most people with an older home go for, and that
is to take a GFI outlet and replace all your
two prong outlets with a ground fault interrupt outlet, because
those outlets are designed when there's any kind of disturbance
(28:27):
or overpull to pop there right there at that location,
and as a result, they provide a greater level of safety.
It's not the same as grounding the whole house, but
it makes those old two prong outlets much much safer
than they were before. And in that case, all you're
doing is changing out the outlets themselves. To all GFI
can be annoying sometimes because each one has to be
(28:49):
reset when something goes wrong, but nevertheless it's something that
is worth thinking about. So have that conversation Derek with
your electrician talk about one of my options here. But
just understand there's you don't have to touch the internal
wiring of the house just to change the panel out.
(29:10):
That's a separate subject to be dealt with, with a
separate price tag and separate options and strategies of approaching it.
And that, my friend, is all I got for you
in that one. Hopefully that gives you the perspective you
need to move forward.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
All right, y'all.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
When we return, we're going to get back to our
conversation with my in studio guest, Brian Gold from al
de Combe, talking about patio furnishings. Let's talk about the
material that we wrap them in, how weather resistant are there,
and what's the real enemy of outside you know, exposed fabric,
(29:46):
what is its real enemy and what should we be
looking for when we're purchasing it. All of that and
more Your Home with Dean Sharp, The House Whisper. This
has been Home with Dean Sharp, The House Whisper. Tune
into the live broadcast ASK 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
(30:08):
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
House Whisper on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
On the iHeart Radio app.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We are taking this lazy, beautiful summer Southern California day
and we're talking about patio furnishings today. But we have
approached the second hour of the show, which means it's
time to go to the phones. I'm going to give
the number out one more time, so because there's always
room on the callboard for you, and I always pick
calls at random, So whether you called in an hour
(00:32):
ago and have been waiting, sorry, or whether you call
in five minutes from now, everybody has the same chance
of getting on the air. The number to reach me
eight three three two. Ask Dean eight three three the
numeral two. Ask Dean eight three three two. Peep, ask Dean.
Just spell out askting Yes, there's one extra letter there.
(00:55):
You technically you don't have to dial the en, okay,
but I'm not going to read it that way because
then it would be eight three three to ask Dea,
and we'd be doing a completely different show, a totally
different show than this. So just just spell out Dean
because that's my name. There You go, all right, let's
go to the phones. I want to talk to Joyce. Hey, Joyce,
(01:18):
welcome home.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yes, I have a problem with my seward. The roots
have gotten into the pipe, and it's a clay pipe.
It's probably about fifty feet long from the house to
the curb. And I have had several different people tell
me about different things. One is replacing the pipe where
(01:43):
it's cracked and the roots are coming through and doing
that and then putting a lining in, which is quite
a bit more expensive. And also my son had heard
about something that you can put through the pipe that
coats a thing is that goes through there's a cone
(02:05):
that goes through or something. And I'm not sure what's
a good way to go. I'm eighty five. I will
probably only be in this house another fifteen years if
I'm lucky, So I don't want to put a whole
lot of money into it, but I would like it
fixed where I don't have problems.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Okay, all right, Well, absolutely a fair question. So here's
the thing with sewer pipes, Joyce. It's never there's never
just one single magic bullet answer, because there are a
lot of factors involved. One of the factors is one
(02:45):
of the factors is where is this sewer pipe traveling under? So,
for instance, if the sewer line is just as it
leaves your house and heads out to the street, if
it's just let's say yard, if it's just low on
up above it right, then for an old clay pipe,
and that is an old system. And believe me, we
(03:07):
haven't done it that way in a long long time,
and for good reason because because clay pipes, clay pipes,
they were never a good idea. Okay, because clay pipes
never seal where the scene is, They never seal properly,
and so they always leech a little bit of moisture.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I don't mean that in a gross sense, it's just
that there's water running through them, they leach a little bit.
And if there are any nearby trees, guess what trees
are designed to do find water. So they're basically trees
don't automatically, contrary to what a lot of people think,
you can put a sewer line right next to an
old growth, massive tree and never ever ever have a
(03:53):
root problem because trees aren't like, oh, hey, there's a
sewer pipe, I think I'll crush it. No, that's not
what they do. Trees are looking for water, and it
starts out as microscopic roots that find their way and
find this these moisture, These little tendrils find the moisture
in the soil, and then they're like, hey, guys, regular
(04:14):
regular source of water right here. More roots come over,
they grow, they grow. Next thing they know, the roots
get bigger, and all of a sudden, one of the
roots actually gets big enough where it actually pops the
clay pipe that in the seam or fills up the
inside with really with a whole mesh of roots on
the inside of a clay pipe. So the point is this,
(04:34):
very simply, what we want for you is a sewer
line that is clear, that is flowing, and that does
not in any way shape or form leech moisture out
into the yard so that tree roots are not attracted
to it. Okay, So the clay pipe was never a
good idea for this.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So here's the thing where it does it run. Because typically,
as invasive as this sounds, the least expensive way typically
to replace a sewer line is to dig up the
old sewer line and just get down in there in
that trench, pull it out, and replace it with a
(05:18):
nice solid, solid sealed these days in southern California ABS
plastic sewer line or a PVC plastic sewer line. It
doesn't leak, it doesn't leach moisture out, and it will
last you know, another you know, fifty two one hundred years,
unless there's an earthquake in some the ground shifts. All right,
that's typically the least expensive. Now, that's a lot of trenching,
(05:42):
and it's a lot of soil, and then you got
to put it all back and then you patch in
the yard. But if it's just yard, if it's just
grass and plants, no big deal.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
The problem comes.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
The problem comes when you know a lot of people's
sewer lines pass underneath walkways, sidewalk driveways. Some people sewer
lines are running underneath their driveway, which means not to
get to it, we've got to actually tear out the
driveway and then replace it. So this is an important
(06:14):
enough question, Joyce, we're up against a break. I'm gonna
pop you on hold, and I'm gonna finish this up
right on the other side of the break, because I
want everybody to understand what it is that they're looking
at when it comes to their sewer lines. We'll take
a quick break and more of your calls. Your Home
with Dean Sharp, the house whisper.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Glad to have you aboard, and we're talking about your home. Yeah,
your home, and I'm god, I'm glad you finally made
it because we've been talking.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
About your home all morning.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I don't know if the neighbors told you, but yeah,
I'm sorry, sorry about that. I should have warned you
that we were talking about your home today. So I
got Joyce on the line. We're taking calls right now.
Joyce has got old clay sewer pipes and she's gotten
a lot of different bits of info from different service
providers about how to fix this because she's got roots
(07:09):
inside the sewer lines and you know, as it happens.
So before the break, I explained why this kind of
thing happens, that trees don't just automatically, you know, rush
over to sewer lines. It's got to be moisture leaking
out of the lines and then you get roots inside.
So when it comes to replacing them, typically the least
expensive way Joyce to do this is with a big trench.
(07:31):
Dig a trench, dig up the sewer line, replace it
with a brand new one. Done and done, and it's over.
The problem comes is with these alternative methods is if
let's say the sewer line runs under the driveway or
a sidewalk, and now we've got to tear out a
driveway in order to get to the sewer line and
(07:52):
replace a driveway. So the more expensive method that's less
invasive would be a couple of different method It's uh.
I don't think we would do this with clay, by
the way, but there is epoxy high pressure epoxy coating
on an existing cast iron line or a broken plastic
ABS line, we can do a blown in high pressure
(08:15):
applied epoxy coating in which we're coating the inside of
the pipe with a with a layer of epoxy that
seals up the cracks and and restores the inner lining
of the pipe. Another way of doing but with but
with clay. I don't think that works with clay. Uh
uh off the top of my head, because the joints
(08:35):
are awkward and weird and hard to seal with the epoxy.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
With a clay pipe, I believe, I believe that there
is the uh the blown in epoxy lining literally like
a sock that we blow in under pressure and then
it hardens up and becomes a pipe. Inside the pipe
now the diameter is slightly smaller, obviously, but not too much,
and it comes a permanent fix as well. A third
(09:02):
way of approaching this is where when conditions allow, is
we take a flexible, brand new pipe material and this
does work really well with clay. We actually run a
line if we can through the clay pipe, a pole
chain or a pole rope, and then near the house
(09:26):
there is going to be attached to the head of
this long new flexible pipeline. There is like a big
steel cone that we then pull through the old clay line.
And what the cone does It literally busts apart the
clay pipe as we pull it through, and we're literally
(09:48):
using the channel that the clay pipe made to pull
through a brand new sewer line to thread it through,
and so we destroy the clay and take its place
with a new sewer line. These are all more expensive methods,
but they're more expensive because they are non invasive on
the yard to varying degrees, don't tear up the yard.
(10:11):
We don't tear up the driveway.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
That's why they're more.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
So they're more expensive than trenching, but they're less expensive
than replacing your driveway and your sewer line together.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Yes? Yes, I see.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Taking the time to explain that all to you so
that you have perspective on the salute, because I can't
tell you sight unseen which is the right answer for
your yard. But now that you know the context of
what's going on, now you can evaluate what these various
plumbing companies are offering you.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
And you really really should.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Take as many bids as you can from reputable plumbers
and get that advice, because I believe that when you've
got the right plumbing companies out there bidding the job,
you're going to start to see the bids grouping, clumping
into one area of advice. Like you take four or
five estimates and you'll find that three or four of
(11:11):
these guys are all suggesting pretty much the same thing
in pretty much the same price range. And now you're like, Okay,
now I know what this is going to take and
what it should cost.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Okay, okay, So the cheapest though, is just trans trenching it.
If you don't have any cement to deal with.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, if there's nothing in the way. Honestly, it doesn't
take long to get a trencher out there, tear it
to trench down. Because we know where the pipe is.
We can find it with a by running a sensor
through the pipe. We'll know exactly where the pipe is.
And then boom, they just dig down, they find the pipe,
they pull it out, they pop a new one in it,
(11:54):
fill the trench back in. Bob's your uncle. You got
a new sewer line. But it does tear up the
yard a bit. And that's the cost of that, is
tearing up the yard.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, but that'll go back, it.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Will grow back.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Oh well, I appreciate you explaining all that to me.
I really do so. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Well, thank you Joyce. Thanks for your question and good
luck on that. But you know what, it's it's information
and perspective that makes all the difference here, It really does.
All right, Okay, let's you know, we have time to
start another call and let's talk to Ed. We're going
to get Ed started. Well, probably have to go to break,
but Ed, welcome home.
Speaker 5 (12:42):
Thanks. Jem.
Speaker 6 (12:43):
I got a question. I have a nineteen thirty two
to revival home, and we have no insulation in the walls,
So I want to know what is more efficient, the
blown in insulation or the palm. And then my kind
of related question is how do I know I've talked
to other vendors, other contractors, and one guy says one thing,
(13:07):
another person says another thing. So how do you know
that they're telling you the truth, are telling you accurate information?
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Okay? So what do they?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Just give me a quick, quick, real quick example of
what the guys are telling you that are contradicting each other.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
So one person says that it's better to do it
from the inside. Another person says it's better to do
it from the outside. The people that say do it
on the inside say that you'll have holes on the
outside and they'll look ugly and hard to match the stucco.
So I'm gonna conflicting information.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Okay, got you? Got you?
Speaker 1 (13:45):
What is the inside? So it's the nineteen thirties tutor
revival home. What do you so I assume you've got
plaster walls on the inside of the house unless it's
been renovated and replaced with drywall.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
No, you're correct, is the laughing plaster walls.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Okay, all right, that's the information we need.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Ed.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
I'm gonna pop you on hold.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
We are going to take a break and we'll come
back and solve his problem of an uninsulated exterior home.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp. That's me the
house Whisper.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
We are right in the middle of taking calls. I've
got Ed on hold. I'm gonna unhold him. Unhold that man. Ed,
Are you still with me?
Speaker 5 (14:33):
I'm here to you.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Okay, So we're talking Ed before the break. Ed has
a nineteen thirties Tudor revival. Oh, that means he has
a Tutor home that was built in the nineteen thirties.
Tutor revival. Anything that says revival means that, you know,
you're building a style of home that is very much
belongs to.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
An earlier period.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
And if you do that now you technically as an architect,
you get to call it a revival. So he's got
a Tutor style home. That means he's got you know,
smooth stucco on the outside of his home with beams,
you know, embedded in because it looks like a timber
framed home, even though it's not a timber framed home.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
It looks like a Tutor timber frame home.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
And it was built in the nineteen thirties, and it
has no insulation in the exterior walls. And he is
kind of done with that. It's time to insulate this house.
It's a great house, it's worthy of it. And he's
getting conflicting signals. One is the question of what kind
of insulation should you use? Foam expanding foam or foam
(15:41):
insulation or blown in I should say I shouldn't say expanding,
I should say clothes sell foam or blown in. And
the question is where do you apply it? From the
outside in or from the inside out. Right, So, a
nineteen thirties Tutor revival house in the thirties, we don't
have dry wall. We have lath and plaster walls, which
(16:02):
we we get little boards across, and we've got plaster
on the inside instead of dry wall, and on the
outside we've got stucco and we've got beams. So here,
let me answer the easy question first ed, there's nothing
wrong with blown in cellulose insulation for the wall cavities.
(16:25):
It's going to be a vast improvement. But if you
ask me, if you go into all the trouble, then
I'm saying foam. I say foam because foam is going
to get to every little area, unlike cellulose, which will
eventually settle a little bit. All right, it gets blown in,
they'll pack it in as tight as they can, but
(16:46):
it's just the nature of cellulose fiber insulation that it
will settle over time, which means you'll end up with
little gaps in your insulation. You know, little holes in
the boat as it were, not big holes, but some holes.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
As far as.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Thermal envelope, the foam best thermal envelope there is. It
seals tight stud to stud, it hardens up, it'll never shift,
it'll never move. And it also does a lot of
air ceiling too while it's doing its insulating job, which
makes a significant difference. Air ceiling is something that we
(17:25):
only in recent years are spending a lot of time
on the general public as not really caught up with
the idea of how important air ceiling a house is.
So that's why I will tell you right off the
bat that I'm going to prefer the foam inside the
walls as opposed to the blown in. Okay, Now, the
problem of how to get it in there we're talking about.
(17:47):
I mean, there's nothing pretty about this, ed As. I'm
sure you're aware. We're talking about opening up a hole
every sixteen inches along every exterior wall of the house
because you've got studs sixteen inches on center, and every
stud bay has to have insulation blown into it.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
And if we scope the walls and find out that
you have fire blocking, which in the thirties, it's a
toss up as to how much fire blocking there is.
And by fire blocking, I mean a cross block in
between the studs, kind of midway up the wall. If
we've got fire blocking, then we need to have a
hole top and bottom, both every sixteen inches. That's a
(18:33):
lot of holes. Okay, it's a lot of holes. Is
it worth doing? Yeah, it's totally worth doing because it
radically changes the house. It brings that nineteen thirties house
as far as thermal insulation into the twenty first century
and will make a radical difference. But it's a lot
of holes. So here's my final thought. The issue of
(18:57):
whether to do it on the outside or the in
side has to do with the fact that those holes
will get patched, but then whatever the surface is out
there has got to flow with the patch. Okay, So
this is your resolution that you're going to have to make.
If we go from the outside in, Okay, the stucco
patches of these holes, they're going to be visible, all right. Fortunately, though,
(19:23):
it doesn't mean tearing up all the stucco on the house.
It just means that the very final coat of stucco,
which is the finished coat, the finished coat of stucco
that everybody sees, is only an eighth of an inch thick,
and it basically, if you're going to go from the
outside in, you're going to need to resolve that after
the holes are patched by the insulating company, then you're
(19:44):
going to get a stucco guy out there who is
going to go over a new finish coat for the
entire house, wall to wall, corner to corner, and you'll
never see the patch, You'll never see the holes again
because the finished coat will be consistent, uniform and cover
every thing everywhere.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
The other alternative is to do it from the inside,
and from the inside honestly, drilling holes into a plaster wall,
and patching the plaster is not having to redo the
whole wall. It's just a lot of patches that have
to be done right and then smooth coated and sand.
You're kind of looking at the same situation inside or
(20:23):
out either way. The only other hesitation I have is
that you've got a tudor home, which means that at
least on the corners and in some areas, we may
have to drill into some of those decorative beams in
order to get to the sixteen inch. And hopefully that's
not the case. Hopefully there's a way always to avoid
(20:45):
the wood. But I would get that advice from the
insulating companies and find out, so plaster on the inside,
which is a concretious surface, a concrete kind of surface,
stucco on the outside, which is a concrete kind of surface,
disrupting all the interior walls and stuff you've got hanging
on them, versus going from the outside and just restuck
(21:10):
going those areas. I'm probably leaning exterior on this one,
although with enough insulating guys telling me no, no, no,
here's why we got to go interior, I could be swayed.
But I think I'm leaning to the exterior treatment just
because I think it's the least invasive as it goes.
(21:31):
And that, my friend, is the best advice I can
give you. And again, hopefully just give you the whole
orbit picture so you can make the best decision. Get
multiple bids. That's the key. You'll see the trend moving
towards the right answer almost inevitably. All right, up next,
more of your calls. Your Home with Dean Sharp the
house Whisper.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Design matters most when it comes to transforming your home.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
That's what I'm here.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I'm on my soapbox every weekend talking about better design
for every home, not just the big houses on the
hill behind the gates. I'm talking about your home. I'm
talking about that little home, that small home. The smaller
home gets by the way, the more important design becomes.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
It really is true.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
When transforming your home becomes an issue of inches, the
right thing in the right place, design becomes critical. Who
as I've talked to yesterday, I was talking about one
of my friends yesterday. She's just kind of enamored right now.
She's watching these shows on not little on RV design,
(22:45):
talk about recreational vehicles, talk about a design mattering most right,
you just have literally inches inches inches inches, the game
of inches of all the things that could get packed
into an RV, the efficiency, the space, the flow, all
of that. I love that kind of stuff. And so yeah,
of course, you know it's lovely to walk through and
(23:09):
work on a twelve thousand or fifteen thousand square foot property.
Of course, of course you know who doesn't want to
do that. But I also get as much satisfaction, truly, honestly,
if you tell me, Okay, I've got this shed in
my backyard and we need to make it do this,
I'm like, yeah, okay, that's a challenge. Let's work on
(23:30):
that and we get it just right. So yeah, in
all things, your home design matters. Post Okay, we're still
taking calls. I think I've got time for one more.
Let's talk to Derek. Hey, Derek, welcome home.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Oh how are you sir? How can I help?
Speaker 5 (23:53):
So? I have a house built in a fifty and
wanted to upgrade the panel. So with the upgrading the panel,
do I need to upgrade the wiring in the house
because it's just the hot and the neutral with the
sheeting on it, and then the ground is just ran
(24:14):
through the house. Do I need to upgrade the wiring.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Wund Yeah?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
I mean so are you saying are you saying that
you I could I miss this? Are you saying that
you don't have outlets in the house with the third
prong with a with a ground wire on them, or
or you do.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
No, That's exactly what it is.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
There's no third problems, just the two slat trail the receptacles.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Okay, all right, all right, so let me address that.
I'm gonna address it in two two different answers here.
So upgrading your electrical panel has nothing to do with
having to change the wires in your home, all right.
It will not be a requirement. The power company is
not like, hey, you're gonna if we're going to change
this out you can have. They don't care. That's not
(25:03):
their issue, that's not their purview. So if you've got
like one hundred amp panel, I'm assuming that you want
to upgrade to a two hundred damp panel, which is
the typical that these days, a two hundred damp panel
is the standard panel for the moderate sized American home. Okay,
even though we've got all sorts of fixtures in our
house that are drawing less and less energy than ever,
(25:25):
Like all of the light bulbs in your home now
probably draw the equivalent electricity of two of your old
incantescent light bulbs when they're all on. Okay, but we've
got things like electric vehicles that are charging and all
this kind of we have other demands. So the point
is two hundred amps pretty typical for an upgrade of
a panel that all happens without reference to the interior wiring.
(25:52):
And what I mean by that is, you know, you
call the power company, you say I want to upgrade
a panel, You get a licensed electrician. They're going to
you work with the power company and get the permit
and switch out the panel, and all of the circuits
that are running into your existing panel will run into
as they stand, will run into the new panel. With
(26:12):
the new panel, though, you'll have more power coming to
the house, and you'll have more room for other circuits
and greater demands on it. But nothing else inside the
house has to change in that regard period end of sentence.
That's an independent switch out. However, should you upgrade the
(26:33):
electrical throughout the house. Because you have a home where
the outlets have no third prong, in other words, you
have ungrounded outlets running throughout the house. That's a whole
nother magilla, as they say, because if you've got conduit
metal conduits running through your home, that these and just
(26:57):
wires running inside the conduits not so much of a
big deal, because those conduits will allow an electrician to
pull that third ground wire through to each outlet location
and then switch out the outlets through a three prong
outlet and you're good as gold boom done. If you don't,
(27:17):
if you've got like what people call romex or a
sheathed cable, you don't have a conduit to pull new
wires in. That's going to be a much more extensive
thing to bring grounding wires to every outlet. It can
be done, and it can be done without tearing up
all the drywall and everything in the house, but it's
more invasive, and it's going to take some drywall patching
(27:38):
here and there, and likely the electricians are going to
try and fish down a ground wire in through the
top plates of the walls, down through the walls to
get to each outlet and then run them all back
to the panel. That may require a little bit of
drywall patching here and there. That can be done too,
but it's more labor intensive and a little more expensive
(27:58):
along the way.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
A third option, okay, is.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
An even easier one and the one that quite honestly,
most people with an older home go for, and that
is to take a GFI outlet and replace all your
two prong outlets with a ground fault interrupt outlet, because
those outlets are designed when there's any kind of disturbance
(28:27):
or overpull to pop there right there at that location,
and as a result, they provide a greater level of safety.
It's not the same as grounding the whole house, but
it makes those old two prong outlets much much safer
than they were before. And in that case, all you're
doing is changing out the outlets themselves. To all GFI
can be annoying sometimes because each one has to be
(28:49):
reset when something goes wrong, but nevertheless it's something that
is worth thinking about. So have that conversation Derek with
your electrician talk about one of my options here. But
just understand there's you don't have to touch the internal
wiring of the house just to change the panel out.
(29:10):
That's a separate subject to be dealt with, with a
separate price tag and separate options and strategies of approaching it.
And that, my friend, is all I got for you
in that one. Hopefully that gives you the perspective you
need to move forward.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
All right, y'all.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
When we return, we're going to get back to our
conversation with my in studio guest, Brian Gold from al
de Combe, talking about patio furnishings. Let's talk about the
material that we wrap them in, how weather resistant are there,
and what's the real enemy of outside you know, exposed fabric,
(29:46):
what is its real enemy and what should we be
looking for when we're purchasing it. All of that and
more Your Home with Dean Sharp, The House Whisper. This
has been Home with Dean Sharp, The House Whisper. Tune
into the live broadcast ASK 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
(30:08):
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
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