November 29, 2025 • 29 mins
Another listener was wondering if it’s wise to use a medallion on an exhaust heater and light combo in his bathroom rather than installing drywall.
The next caller got hit with a $29,000 assessment from her HOA to have her 3x8 balcony resurfaced due to deteriorated wood and potential dry rot. What is the best material to use in this situation? And why is the assessment so high?
To be compliant with California building codes, do you need to install a coldwater electrical groundwire?
Today’s last caller had questions regarding his kitchen remodel countertop – namely, what’s best for the countertop: quartzite, quartz, granite, etc.?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good morning and welcome home. I am Dean Sharp, the
house whisper, custom home builder, custom home designer, and your
guide to better understanding that place where you live. It
is an all calls Saturday morning. We've got a board
full of calls.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm going to be going back to the phones in
just a second. I just have to tell Sam h
or ask Sam and Heather both. Uh. I was just
listening to the new bumper, the new KFI bumper Guaranteed Human. Yeah. Yeah,
we we did little something on that too. Yeah, it
sounds it sounds a bit robotic to me. The voice.
(00:46):
It sounds like thou dost protest too much? I think so,
I think we might need to rethink that one. That's
all I'm saying. I agree if you want to, if
you want to communicate the humanity of KFI, just put
us on minutes earlier. Just they'll let us talk about
our lives. That's it. There you go. Also, you can
hear all the mistakes that I make so people know
(01:08):
it's real guaranteed human. Heather Brooker, I am human newsreader
and her youthful brain. There you go. Oh Lord, help me.
All right, y'all, we've got a bunch of calls here.
I want to go back to the phones. I you
know what, I always say this, I want to talk
(01:29):
about the stallhouse. Now I have something I really want
to talk about. But I always honor the calls first.
I might not get a chance. Well, we'll see, we'll see,
we'll see what happens. Let's talk to Louis. Hey, Louie,
welcome home.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Hi dean fourteen inch hold in the bathroom? Can I
use a mcdallion rather than hiring to do patch up
Troy Troy warl work with obviously a smaller rectangular unit.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Smaller rectangular unit. I'm not sorry, I'm not clear on
the what what's the hole in the bathroom ceiling for?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
It's an exhaust heater like combination.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Ah okay, oh, I see, so you're replacing it. The
old one was bigger, the new one is smaller, and
now you got potential drywall work ahead of you.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Oh, and you want to you're wondering at whether you
could use a medallion meaning and a medallion everybody is
just like an ornamental ceiling piece that you would, for instance,
put around, you know, a chandelier and they come in square,
they come round. Uh you know that kind of thing.
Uh sure, why not? Why not just you know, seal
it off really well, put a little calking underneath it
so that none of the moisture from the bathroom gets up,
(02:40):
you know, into the attic space.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Great, seventy cfm is that enough for a five by
eight by seven room with no window?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I have no idea, you know, I could help you
look it up, but uh, but off the top of
my head, yeah, you get Now, you're really now, you're
really tax the brain here because the cf I'll just
tell you this CFM is key and as much as
(03:08):
possible for an exhaust fan in a bathroom, and make
sure that the door to the bathroom is not cut
too close to the floor, because no matter what the
CFM of the exhaust fan is, if you don't have
a good crack underneath the bathroom door for air to
actually be drawn into the bathroom, then the CFM of
(03:29):
the fan is not going to matter, because it'll be
drawing against a static vacuum and not throwing the air anywhere.
But yeah, the bigger the better, my friend, the bigger
the better when it comes to CFM, you know, as
long as you can. You know, I like whisper quiet stuff.
And you know what, I'll tell you what if I
get a half second here, Louis, I'll double check that
for you and I'll give you the answer a little
(03:49):
bit later. But yeah, on the off the top of
my head, I admit I don't remember what our optimal
CFM for for a bathroom that sizes. Thanks for the call, Bud.
I can at least get another call started here. Let's
talk to Melanie. Melanie, welcome home.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Good morning, Dean. I just got hit with a twenty
nine thousand dollars assessment on my condo to rebuild balconies.
On top of that, they want to charge for the
surfacing of the balcony. So I kind of want to
keep an eye on what they're doing. And could you
(04:31):
recommend a material for the surface of a balcony. Mine
has no roof over it, it's open to the elements, Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
And so you're being hit by with an assessment by
the building or the HLA.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Or DHOA and every homeowner is paying twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Holy now, all right, how big is the balcony.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
By the way, it's about eight feet by three feet.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So not huge.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
No, And.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I'm sorry, I'm so curious.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
I'm sorry. They're replacing all the wood which is deteriorated,
checking to see if there's any dry rot on the
floor of the balcony, and just rebuilding it.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
For twenty nine thousand dollars a three by eight balcony.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
Well, there's twenty seven units. Some units have two balconies. Yeah,
and they gave us, they gave us a month to
come up with the money. Don't buy a condo, Oh
my gosh. I want to kind of I want to
keep an eye on these guys and see what they're
putting down that I have to pay extra for. What
(05:52):
do you put on the surface?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
All right, Melanie, Okay, First of all, I just need
a couple of minutes to recover from the shock of
I want to know. First, I want to know who
at the HLA or who owns the building is pocketing
all this money twenty nine for a three by eight
bout okay.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
All of this. I don't know anything about construction, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, it's a good question. It's a really good question,
you know. Okay, all Right, so I'm gonna I'm gonna
make my recommendation to you, but we're up against a break,
so I'm going to pop you on hold, and when
we come back, I promise, free of charge, I will
tell you what material to use on your balcony. Okay,
so you hang tight, my friend. Uh wow, wow, somebody
(06:44):
needs to call the cops on that one. I'm just saying,
all right, uh quick break. More of your calls your
home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper. Dean Sharp, the
house whisper here to help, here to help you take
your home to the next level, and sometimes just to help.
It is an all calls Saturday morning. This fine cool
(07:05):
Saturday after Thanksgiving. It's small business Saturday. Go out and
support your local independent businesses in your community. If you're
all about building community, that's how you do it. Vote
with your dollars. As they say, I've got Melanie on
the line. Gosh, I hope I do Melanie. Oh you're
(07:26):
still there, Okay, Melanie. During the break, so.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
That there are larger balconies. I told you the dimensions
of my small kitchen balcony, but there are other larger balconies.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Okay, that's fine. But they're charging you how much for
your balcony. So here's the thing, my friend. I don't
know who you need to talk to, but that is
just I'm just telling you. It's highway robbery. I was
working for you during the break. I was so aghast
(07:59):
at what you told me that I dialed up real
quick my buddy, who is a waterproofer and does this
stuff all the time, and I'm like, all right, here's
the deal. I've got a three by eight balcony twenty
four square feet, my friend, And let's assume that it
(08:20):
needs major structural issues. Let's assume I've got rot in
the joyce underneath. Let's assume that the plywood sub deck
is all messed up because it's been leaking and neglected.
Let's assume that I might have some stucco repair to do. Okay,
here in southern California, what are we looking at? And
he's like, well, okay, Usually, he says, you know, I'm
(08:41):
just shooting from the hip here, But you know, a
decent condition where we've got to go all the way down,
you know, maybe fifty dollars a square foot, he says,
if we got to read work some framing and stuff
like that. Maybe he says it could reach up to
one hundred and twenty dollars a square foot. Deem honestly,
he says, I know, that's a lot of money. I'm like, no,
that's not a lot of money, my friend, not for
(09:03):
twenty four square feet. Because let's see, I do the
math here. That's twenty eight hundred bucks plus the stucco repair,
which would not be included in there. So let's just
double it and say six thousand dollars that is. And
six thousand dollars that is just I mean, outrageously, without question,
(09:25):
way more money than it should cost.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
But there's a wood railing around the balcony, and that's
don't care.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Wood is cheap. It really is cheap. Paint is cheap.
Wood is cheap.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Okay, Oh my god, you're giving me a.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Hard I don't mean to. You should have had the
heart attack when they sent you the bill and told
you you have to pay this. What I'm saying is okay.
So I doubled the price and I said six thousand.
All right, let's add in the wood railing and the
carpenter to do it, and the painter who's gonna paint it.
All right, fine dollars. That's ridiculous. By the way, I'm
(10:02):
just being ridiculous. Ten thousand dollars is a ridiculous price
to pay to fix your balcony. And it is a
third of what they are charging you. That's what I'm saying. Oh,
it's the biggest help I can give.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
So okay, the biggest help I can.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Give you, though, is you've got to call somebody, Melanie.
You should call somebody and say, listen, I would like
a justification for these prices, because you know what, if
they've got one company doing the entire building, then they
should actually be receiving even better than normal prices because
they are getting a bulk price for everybody, and so
(10:44):
you need a justify. I'm just serious. I don't mean
to shock you, but I almost had a heart attack
when you told me how.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
Much common sense thought that that was outrageous.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I mean, it is extremely outrageous, to the to the
point of just absolute abusive. I mean, is it is
just it's crazy expensive, Melanie, it's crazy expensive. Now, I'm
gonna answer your question very quickly. The typical uh for
a condo.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
And it's just perfectly fine when it's done right, it's
a cementious base with with fiberglass layers on top and
then a urethane coating that usually has a grit built
into it. Okay, one or two good eurethane coatings on
top of that. That's your typical you know, not going crazy.
(11:36):
We're not putting out tile or pavers or anything out there.
That is a typical uh color coded balcony. If done well,
it could last for decades. Okay, if maintained well. It's
a typical balcony that you see on exterior. You know,
walk balconies outside of apartment buildings, you know condo balconies.
(11:59):
It's there's nothing magical about it, and there's nothing cheap
or defective about it. You're a thane acrylic coding with
fiberglass underneath and a good cement board surface built on goodwood.
But my point is your balcony is so small, so
small that the idea of thirty thousand dollars coming out
(12:21):
of your pocket to fix something that would be highway
robbery at ten thousand. Okay, it's highway robbery at ten thousand.
To fix that balcony thirty thousand dollars, You got to
talk to somebody, Yeah, you really do an attorney or
at least call the HIA and say, listen, I'm not
on the board, but I want a justification for this, okay,
(12:43):
And here's what you could do as a way of
going in. And I know you don't have any you know,
I know you don't have any sway in terms of
your position with the HAA. But call on your own
call a local deck waterproofing company. You just look them
up for your area. Okay, you can get two or
three of them. Call a local deck waterproofing company, have
(13:06):
a conversation over the phone with them about it. Say listen,
let's assume my balcony sticking out of my condo has
you know, wood damage to it. How much is it
going to cost me? And if they want to come
out and take a look at have them come out
and take a look at it. Give them a free
estimate of what it would cost if you paid for
it yourself. Okay. I guarantee you you're going to have
(13:29):
a quote in your hand that you can walk into
the HOA board with and say, what the hell what
is going on with this? Who is pocketing all of
this money? Okay? Because this is not right, Melanie. I
am so sorry to have to break that news to you,
but I'm also glad that you called because if there's
(13:49):
any way, shape or form, and I'm not trying to
put pressure on you, but you know that is money,
hard earned money you don't want to spend if you
don't need to. And I'm telling you you do not
need to spend that much money to fix that deck
at all. Period. Oh yeah, that's the world we live in.
(14:09):
Merry Christmas. All right, Joe. We're going to go to
a break and when we come back, more of your calls.
Your Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Dean Sharp the House Whisper here to help you transform
your ordinary house into an extraordinary home. It is an
all calls Saturday morning. Thanks for joining us on the program.
We've got calls on the board. I'm going back to
the phones just here to help today. I want to
talk to Leo. Hey, Leo, welcome home.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Yeah, good morning. You need to find out what a
cold water electrical ground is.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
A cold water electrical ground are you putting in some
new panels or something.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah, I had an electrical contractor take out the old
five meter subpanel and put in new subpanels, and then
he said he was going to put a two ground
rod system in, which he did, and then also a
cold water ground. And then now he said that, oh, well,
we don't need to put a cold water ground, and
so I just want to find out do we need
(15:20):
to put a cold water ground and or not to
make everything up the code.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, well I'm going to tell you right now, trust
your electrical contractor for that. If is there a permit
pulled for this?
Speaker 4 (15:33):
No?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Oh okay, well, uh he's so okay. Cold water electrical
ground is a ground wire.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
It is a grounding electrode. Basic principle of electricity here
on planet Earth. The largest uh uh you know, the
largest low potential energy object around is planet Earth. Okay.
All electricity near planet Earth wants to go from wherever
(16:06):
it is and it's negatively charged state down to Planet Earth.
That's why we call it grounding. Electricity gets grounded because
it is naturally attracted through the laws of electrical energy
and physics to the Earth because the Earth is massive
and it is a you know, it's a potention a
(16:28):
potential zero energy source. So that's why electricity flows through
the earth. That's why when lightning strikes, it hits the earth. Okay,
electricity around your home in order to keep it safe,
in order to keep you safe and the home safe,
we want a random electricity that might get out of
control or be in the wrong place at the wrong time,
(16:50):
to get into the earth as quickly as possible through
the safest method possible. That's what a ground wire is.
All the ground wires in side your house, the little
green wires that are running to every switch and light
fixture and outlet, they are all running back to the
panel where they join up with a big ground wire
(17:13):
that runs down into the ground. Now that can take
multiple forms. In California, we build a new house, we're
required right at the outset to have what's called a
uphur ground. A uphur ground is a big, old, high
gauge ground wire that comes up to the panel and
(17:33):
it's actually connected to the rebar in the foundation, runs
along the rebar and is there before we pour the concrete. Okay,
it's literally connected into the foundation of the house. Then
there are grounding rods that need to be driven down
into the ground that become grounding sources. And another way
(17:55):
of grounding a house is to connect a ground wise
to the cold water supply. And the reason it's cold
water supply and not hot hot water supply pipes only
run inside your house, but the main coming in the
water main coming into your home is a cold water
supply obviously that runs underground deep all the way out
(18:16):
into the street and connects to the earth better than
anything else. So by using a bonding wire to the
cold water supply, we can turn the entire cold water
supply main feed system into an electrical ground as well.
That's the theory behind it all. Now, in most counties
and cities for panels and subpanels, two forms of grounding
(18:40):
are preferred. Sometimes two forms of grounding are required, both
the rod and the cold water ground. But I'm not
a license electrician and so familiar with what's going on
in your particular city, so I can't tell you whether
or not the the cold water ground is absolutely required.
(19:03):
But I will tell you this, of all the grounds,
it's the easiest one to achieve because it's just a
wire and a bonding lug connected to the main pipe.
So it's not the typically you know, an expensive prospect.
Either way.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Sounds interesting.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
This is how all electricity works. So the question of
what so if your electrician is saying, oh, no, we're
already adequately grounded and we don't need the cold water ground,
I would trust him on that. Just ask him to
show you how the system is grounded and ask him why,
with your newfound knowledge of science, ask him a why
(19:45):
don't we need the cold water ground as well? And
is that absolutely guaranteed the code for this city?
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Yeah? I think he just doesn't want to have somebody
crawl underneath the building and snake the ground where to
the front of the building thirty forty feet?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (20:02):
You know what?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, And if that's the case, say hey, bud, just
just get under there and just connect the wire, okay,
because it's a again, it's not a big deal. There's
no there's no digging, there's no it's just you know,
you find the cold water main as it's coming into
the property, you run the wire. The wire doesn't even
have to be in a conduit. It's it's out, it's exposed.
It's the easiest of all of all the electrical wires
(20:27):
that could be running the house. This is the one
job the electrician would give me. Dean, Hey, you go
and we know you know nothing about being electrician. Do
you run the cold water ground? I'm like, I will, okay,
no problem, so yeah, just go ahead and you know,
nudge him in the right direction if you've got questions
about it.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Appreciate your health, Dean.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Thank you all right, Leo, thanks for the question, bud
See I get to do a science lesson also on
the electrical wiring. That's what makes my job fun. All right,
more of your questions when we return. It's an all
call Saturday morning. I am Dean Sharp, the house Whisperer.
Dean Sharp, the house whisper here to remind you that
(21:08):
every home deserves great design, especially yours. Why because it's yours?
Because you live there, my friend, and we want your
house to be an extraordinary home. Quick question here before
I take one more call today. A quick question that
didn't make it on the air. Bill from Corona shot
(21:29):
me a message asking, hey, AQMD announced today in southern California.
I won't use the language that he used. The second
day after Thanksgiving, cold weather, I want a cozy fire
and they say it's a no burn day and Heather
confirmed this earlier. I think she reported that. And didn't you, Heather,
(21:51):
it's a no burn day here in Sokel? I think, yeah,
all right, So here's why, by the way, and know
the AQ is not out to just poop on your party,
but well, yeah, they kind of are. But the point
is this has nothing to do with the amount of
coldness in the air. If you'll look outside, and I'm
(22:13):
not defending this, I'm just explaining it. If you look outside,
chances are where you're at right now, like where I'm
at in southern California, the air is very still cold
and the air is very still. That is because what's
going on right now is what they call an inter
inversion layer, a winter inversion layer, warm air sitting on
(22:38):
top of us way up there, trapping cold air near
the ground. And because of that, Okay, if the wind
was blowing today and it was cold, then it would
not be a no burn day. But because the air
is very still because of this high pressure system that
apparently is sitting on top of this cold air that
(22:58):
we are in right now, that's when smoke from open fires, chimneys, etc.
Doesn't go anywhere. It just stays in our atmosphere, doesn't
blow away, It just looms and holds itself to the ground.
And the AQMD has a policy against that because it
increases the amount of particulates in the air that we're breathing.
(23:20):
Therefore it is a higher pollution day. Therefore it's a
no burn day. Okay. So if it was cold and windy,
you'd get your fire today, you don't because of the
winter inversion layer. There you go, the more you know,
all right, let's talk to Timothy. Hey, Timothy, welcome home.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
Hidine. We just started a kitchen remodel. It is gutted
down to the studs. We've picked out cabinets, but we're
trying to decide on a counter top. Looking at courtz
court side ran it, what's the best?
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Well, the best the best is the one that is
most attractive to you and provides the most utility for
the kitchen. So I can't tell you what the best is.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Now.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
If we're talking in purely in terms of kitchen performance,
then you know I'm a big fan of quartzite and
quartz quartzite being the natural stone, quartz being the general
umbrella term for synthetic man made countertops that are designed
(24:36):
to look like stone. And the reason is number one.
I am a stone lover. I love natural stone, and
quartzite is very very hard. It's also very dense, very
non porous, Okay, so easy to seal, easy to maintain,
easy to clean. And because of that, you know, I
(24:57):
lean towards natural stones when it comes to kitchens myself.
Generally speaking, there is now every year though the quartz
industry improves upon and improves upon and improves upon their
simulation of natural stones. So if the plan as a
designer for the kitchen is, for instance, like the if
(25:19):
the stone we would want to put in the kitchen
is a marble, like a Calicutta or statuary kind of marble,
then absolutely I'm not putting marble in the kitchen because
marble is way too susceptible to staining, to acids, to
wine stains, all of that kind of stuff. That's when
(25:40):
I'm automatically looking at quartz, because if quartz does anything well,
it simulates and imitates white marbles incredibly, incredibly well. I
mean there's some beautiful versions, and quartz is completely non porous,
and so it's a fantastic countertop surface. If it's not
a marble look we're going for. I'm probably looking in
(26:03):
the direction of quartzite or soap stone or something like that.
The place that I don't look is granite. Granite is,
of all the things I've just mentioned, the hardest surface
there no question, most of the granites very very hard.
But that hard particulation comes at a price. Granite is
(26:24):
very porous, very porous, and if you don't keep it
very well sealed and resealed every let's say in a kitchen,
I would say every six months, then that porosity opens
up and you can get stuff down in the granite
that you cannot clean out anymore. You know, it just
gets down into the granules of the rock and it's
(26:46):
beyond your ability to reach it to clean it. Which
is why, by the way, now it's not the California
Health and Safety Code doesn't make it utterly technically illegal
for commercial restaurants to use granted in the kitchen, So
I want to be clear on that. Technically it's legal,
but practically it's illegal. And the reason is because the
(27:09):
code very specifically states that that surface must be proven
to be sealed and have no bacterial residual content in it,
otherwise it doesn't pass health inspections air go. This is
why most commercial restaurants will not use granted in their kitchens,
because with all the activity that's going on, they'd be
(27:31):
having to seal it like weekly in order to keep
it bacteria free, and nobody's going to do that. So
the point is granted. I know it's in everybody's kitchen
from the eighties and the nineties, but I got to
tell you, granted is the worst material as far as
function to put in a kitchen countertop, So I'm much
(27:51):
more prone to go quartzite or quartz depending on the
design style that you're trying to come up with, or
if it's a dark, dark coun owner top. Soapstone, which
is the most poor on the the least porous of
all natural stones zero porosity, doesn't even need to be
sealed on any level and holds up real well. I
(28:13):
have an island in my own home made out of soapstone.
So how's that? Tim great? Thank you give me you
are so you are so yeah, you're so welcome, my friend.
Thank you so much. Happy holidays. Hey, guess what that's
it for us today? I didn't get to tell you
about the Stall House. You know what, I think, I'm
gonna save that for tomorrow morning. I'm going to start
(28:35):
tomorrow morning's show with giving you this news report on
the Stall House, which is just of architectural interest to
me and maybe to you two it should be. I'll
make it interesting. I promise, don't miss tomorrow's show. It
is the annual House Whisper Holiday Gift Guide. That's right,
the buying guide for Christmas. I've got twenty five items
(28:56):
that will try and run through and tell you how
to shop for that home improvement person in your life.
That's tomorrow from nine to noon. Until then, get out
in this glorious day and get busy building yourself a
beautiful life. We'll see tomorrow. This has been Home with
(29:17):
Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the live broadcast
on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from six
to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday morning from nine
to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on the
iHeartRadio app
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good morning and welcome home. I am Dean Sharp, the
house whisper, custom home builder, custom home designer, and your
guide to better understanding that place where you live. It
is an all calls Saturday morning. We've got a board
full of calls.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm going to be going back to the phones in
just a second. I just have to tell Sam h
or ask Sam and Heather both. Uh. I was just
listening to the new bumper, the new KFI bumper Guaranteed Human. Yeah. Yeah,
we we did little something on that too. Yeah, it
sounds it sounds a bit robotic to me. The voice.
(00:46):
It sounds like thou dost protest too much? I think so,
I think we might need to rethink that one. That's
all I'm saying. I agree if you want to, if
you want to communicate the humanity of KFI, just put
us on minutes earlier. Just they'll let us talk about
our lives. That's it. There you go. Also, you can
hear all the mistakes that I make so people know
(01:08):
it's real guaranteed human. Heather Brooker, I am human newsreader
and her youthful brain. There you go. Oh Lord, help me.
All right, y'all, we've got a bunch of calls here.
I want to go back to the phones. I you
know what, I always say this, I want to talk
(01:29):
about the stallhouse. Now I have something I really want
to talk about. But I always honor the calls first.
I might not get a chance. Well, we'll see, we'll see,
we'll see what happens. Let's talk to Louis. Hey, Louie,
welcome home.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Hi dean fourteen inch hold in the bathroom? Can I
use a mcdallion rather than hiring to do patch up
Troy Troy warl work with obviously a smaller rectangular unit.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Smaller rectangular unit. I'm not sorry, I'm not clear on
the what what's the hole in the bathroom ceiling for?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
It's an exhaust heater like combination.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Ah okay, oh, I see, so you're replacing it. The
old one was bigger, the new one is smaller, and
now you got potential drywall work ahead of you.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Oh, and you want to you're wondering at whether you
could use a medallion meaning and a medallion everybody is
just like an ornamental ceiling piece that you would, for instance,
put around, you know, a chandelier and they come in square,
they come round. Uh you know that kind of thing.
Uh sure, why not? Why not just you know, seal
it off really well, put a little calking underneath it
so that none of the moisture from the bathroom gets up,
(02:40):
you know, into the attic space.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Great, seventy cfm is that enough for a five by
eight by seven room with no window?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I have no idea, you know, I could help you
look it up, but uh, but off the top of
my head, yeah, you get Now, you're really now, you're
really tax the brain here because the cf I'll just
tell you this CFM is key and as much as
(03:08):
possible for an exhaust fan in a bathroom, and make
sure that the door to the bathroom is not cut
too close to the floor, because no matter what the
CFM of the exhaust fan is, if you don't have
a good crack underneath the bathroom door for air to
actually be drawn into the bathroom, then the CFM of
(03:29):
the fan is not going to matter, because it'll be
drawing against a static vacuum and not throwing the air anywhere.
But yeah, the bigger the better, my friend, the bigger
the better when it comes to CFM, you know, as
long as you can. You know, I like whisper quiet stuff.
And you know what, I'll tell you what if I
get a half second here, Louis, I'll double check that
for you and I'll give you the answer a little
(03:49):
bit later. But yeah, on the off the top of
my head, I admit I don't remember what our optimal
CFM for for a bathroom that sizes. Thanks for the call, Bud.
I can at least get another call started here. Let's
talk to Melanie. Melanie, welcome home.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Good morning, Dean. I just got hit with a twenty
nine thousand dollars assessment on my condo to rebuild balconies.
On top of that, they want to charge for the
surfacing of the balcony. So I kind of want to
keep an eye on what they're doing. And could you
(04:31):
recommend a material for the surface of a balcony. Mine
has no roof over it, it's open to the elements, Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
And so you're being hit by with an assessment by
the building or the HLA.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Or DHOA and every homeowner is paying twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Holy now, all right, how big is the balcony.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
By the way, it's about eight feet by three feet.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So not huge.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
No, And.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I'm sorry, I'm so curious.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
I'm sorry. They're replacing all the wood which is deteriorated,
checking to see if there's any dry rot on the
floor of the balcony, and just rebuilding it.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
For twenty nine thousand dollars a three by eight balcony.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
Well, there's twenty seven units. Some units have two balconies. Yeah,
and they gave us, they gave us a month to
come up with the money. Don't buy a condo, Oh
my gosh. I want to kind of I want to
keep an eye on these guys and see what they're
putting down that I have to pay extra for. What
(05:52):
do you put on the surface?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
All right, Melanie, Okay, First of all, I just need
a couple of minutes to recover from the shock of
I want to know. First, I want to know who
at the HLA or who owns the building is pocketing
all this money twenty nine for a three by eight
bout okay.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
All of this. I don't know anything about construction, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, it's a good question. It's a really good question,
you know. Okay, all Right, so I'm gonna I'm gonna
make my recommendation to you, but we're up against a break,
so I'm going to pop you on hold, and when
we come back, I promise, free of charge, I will
tell you what material to use on your balcony. Okay,
so you hang tight, my friend. Uh wow, wow, somebody
(06:44):
needs to call the cops on that one. I'm just saying,
all right, uh quick break. More of your calls your
home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper. Dean Sharp, the
house whisper here to help, here to help you take
your home to the next level, and sometimes just to help.
It is an all calls Saturday morning. This fine cool
(07:05):
Saturday after Thanksgiving. It's small business Saturday. Go out and
support your local independent businesses in your community. If you're
all about building community, that's how you do it. Vote
with your dollars. As they say, I've got Melanie on
the line. Gosh, I hope I do Melanie. Oh you're
(07:26):
still there, Okay, Melanie. During the break, so.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
That there are larger balconies. I told you the dimensions
of my small kitchen balcony, but there are other larger balconies.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Okay, that's fine. But they're charging you how much for
your balcony. So here's the thing, my friend. I don't
know who you need to talk to, but that is
just I'm just telling you. It's highway robbery. I was
working for you during the break. I was so aghast
(07:59):
at what you told me that I dialed up real
quick my buddy, who is a waterproofer and does this
stuff all the time, and I'm like, all right, here's
the deal. I've got a three by eight balcony twenty
four square feet, my friend, And let's assume that it
(08:20):
needs major structural issues. Let's assume I've got rot in
the joyce underneath. Let's assume that the plywood sub deck
is all messed up because it's been leaking and neglected.
Let's assume that I might have some stucco repair to do. Okay,
here in southern California, what are we looking at? And
he's like, well, okay, Usually, he says, you know, I'm
(08:41):
just shooting from the hip here, But you know, a
decent condition where we've got to go all the way down,
you know, maybe fifty dollars a square foot, he says,
if we got to read work some framing and stuff
like that. Maybe he says it could reach up to
one hundred and twenty dollars a square foot. Deem honestly,
he says, I know, that's a lot of money. I'm like, no,
that's not a lot of money, my friend, not for
(09:03):
twenty four square feet. Because let's see, I do the
math here. That's twenty eight hundred bucks plus the stucco repair,
which would not be included in there. So let's just
double it and say six thousand dollars that is. And
six thousand dollars that is just I mean, outrageously, without question,
(09:25):
way more money than it should cost.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
But there's a wood railing around the balcony, and that's
don't care.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Wood is cheap. It really is cheap. Paint is cheap.
Wood is cheap.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Okay, Oh my god, you're giving me a.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Hard I don't mean to. You should have had the
heart attack when they sent you the bill and told
you you have to pay this. What I'm saying is okay.
So I doubled the price and I said six thousand.
All right, let's add in the wood railing and the
carpenter to do it, and the painter who's gonna paint it.
All right, fine dollars. That's ridiculous. By the way, I'm
(10:02):
just being ridiculous. Ten thousand dollars is a ridiculous price
to pay to fix your balcony. And it is a
third of what they are charging you. That's what I'm saying. Oh,
it's the biggest help I can give.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
So okay, the biggest help I can.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Give you, though, is you've got to call somebody, Melanie.
You should call somebody and say, listen, I would like
a justification for these prices, because you know what, if
they've got one company doing the entire building, then they
should actually be receiving even better than normal prices because
they are getting a bulk price for everybody, and so
(10:44):
you need a justify. I'm just serious. I don't mean
to shock you, but I almost had a heart attack
when you told me how.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
Much common sense thought that that was outrageous.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I mean, it is extremely outrageous, to the to the
point of just absolute abusive. I mean, is it is
just it's crazy expensive, Melanie, it's crazy expensive. Now, I'm
gonna answer your question very quickly. The typical uh for
a condo.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
And it's just perfectly fine when it's done right, it's
a cementious base with with fiberglass layers on top and
then a urethane coating that usually has a grit built
into it. Okay, one or two good eurethane coatings on
top of that. That's your typical you know, not going crazy.
(11:36):
We're not putting out tile or pavers or anything out there.
That is a typical uh color coded balcony. If done well,
it could last for decades. Okay, if maintained well. It's
a typical balcony that you see on exterior. You know,
walk balconies outside of apartment buildings, you know condo balconies.
(11:59):
It's there's nothing magical about it, and there's nothing cheap
or defective about it. You're a thane acrylic coding with
fiberglass underneath and a good cement board surface built on goodwood.
But my point is your balcony is so small, so
small that the idea of thirty thousand dollars coming out
(12:21):
of your pocket to fix something that would be highway
robbery at ten thousand. Okay, it's highway robbery at ten thousand.
To fix that balcony thirty thousand dollars, You got to
talk to somebody, Yeah, you really do an attorney or
at least call the HIA and say, listen, I'm not
on the board, but I want a justification for this, okay,
(12:43):
And here's what you could do as a way of
going in. And I know you don't have any you know,
I know you don't have any sway in terms of
your position with the HAA. But call on your own
call a local deck waterproofing company. You just look them
up for your area. Okay, you can get two or
three of them. Call a local deck waterproofing company, have
(13:06):
a conversation over the phone with them about it. Say listen,
let's assume my balcony sticking out of my condo has
you know, wood damage to it. How much is it
going to cost me? And if they want to come
out and take a look at have them come out
and take a look at it. Give them a free
estimate of what it would cost if you paid for
it yourself. Okay. I guarantee you you're going to have
(13:29):
a quote in your hand that you can walk into
the HOA board with and say, what the hell what
is going on with this? Who is pocketing all of
this money? Okay? Because this is not right, Melanie. I
am so sorry to have to break that news to you,
but I'm also glad that you called because if there's
(13:49):
any way, shape or form, and I'm not trying to
put pressure on you, but you know that is money,
hard earned money you don't want to spend if you
don't need to. And I'm telling you you do not
need to spend that much money to fix that deck
at all. Period. Oh yeah, that's the world we live in.
(14:09):
Merry Christmas. All right, Joe. We're going to go to
a break and when we come back, more of your calls.
Your Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Dean Sharp the House Whisper here to help you transform
your ordinary house into an extraordinary home. It is an
all calls Saturday morning. Thanks for joining us on the program.
We've got calls on the board. I'm going back to
the phones just here to help today. I want to
talk to Leo. Hey, Leo, welcome home.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Yeah, good morning. You need to find out what a
cold water electrical ground is.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
A cold water electrical ground are you putting in some
new panels or something.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah, I had an electrical contractor take out the old
five meter subpanel and put in new subpanels, and then
he said he was going to put a two ground
rod system in, which he did, and then also a
cold water ground. And then now he said that, oh, well,
we don't need to put a cold water ground, and
so I just want to find out do we need
(15:20):
to put a cold water ground and or not to
make everything up the code.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, well I'm going to tell you right now, trust
your electrical contractor for that. If is there a permit
pulled for this?
Speaker 4 (15:33):
No?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Oh okay, well, uh he's so okay. Cold water electrical
ground is a ground wire.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
It is a grounding electrode. Basic principle of electricity here
on planet Earth. The largest uh uh you know, the
largest low potential energy object around is planet Earth. Okay.
All electricity near planet Earth wants to go from wherever
(16:06):
it is and it's negatively charged state down to Planet Earth.
That's why we call it grounding. Electricity gets grounded because
it is naturally attracted through the laws of electrical energy
and physics to the Earth because the Earth is massive
and it is a you know, it's a potention a
(16:28):
potential zero energy source. So that's why electricity flows through
the earth. That's why when lightning strikes, it hits the earth. Okay,
electricity around your home in order to keep it safe,
in order to keep you safe and the home safe,
we want a random electricity that might get out of
control or be in the wrong place at the wrong time,
(16:50):
to get into the earth as quickly as possible through
the safest method possible. That's what a ground wire is.
All the ground wires in side your house, the little
green wires that are running to every switch and light
fixture and outlet, they are all running back to the
panel where they join up with a big ground wire
(17:13):
that runs down into the ground. Now that can take
multiple forms. In California, we build a new house, we're
required right at the outset to have what's called a
uphur ground. A uphur ground is a big, old, high
gauge ground wire that comes up to the panel and
(17:33):
it's actually connected to the rebar in the foundation, runs
along the rebar and is there before we pour the concrete. Okay,
it's literally connected into the foundation of the house. Then
there are grounding rods that need to be driven down
into the ground that become grounding sources. And another way
(17:55):
of grounding a house is to connect a ground wise
to the cold water supply. And the reason it's cold
water supply and not hot hot water supply pipes only
run inside your house, but the main coming in the
water main coming into your home is a cold water
supply obviously that runs underground deep all the way out
(18:16):
into the street and connects to the earth better than
anything else. So by using a bonding wire to the
cold water supply, we can turn the entire cold water
supply main feed system into an electrical ground as well.
That's the theory behind it all. Now, in most counties
and cities for panels and subpanels, two forms of grounding
(18:40):
are preferred. Sometimes two forms of grounding are required, both
the rod and the cold water ground. But I'm not
a license electrician and so familiar with what's going on
in your particular city, so I can't tell you whether
or not the the cold water ground is absolutely required.
(19:03):
But I will tell you this, of all the grounds,
it's the easiest one to achieve because it's just a
wire and a bonding lug connected to the main pipe.
So it's not the typically you know, an expensive prospect.
Either way.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Sounds interesting.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
This is how all electricity works. So the question of
what so if your electrician is saying, oh, no, we're
already adequately grounded and we don't need the cold water ground,
I would trust him on that. Just ask him to
show you how the system is grounded and ask him why,
with your newfound knowledge of science, ask him a why
(19:45):
don't we need the cold water ground as well? And
is that absolutely guaranteed the code for this city?
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Yeah? I think he just doesn't want to have somebody
crawl underneath the building and snake the ground where to
the front of the building thirty forty feet?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (20:02):
You know what?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, And if that's the case, say hey, bud, just
just get under there and just connect the wire, okay,
because it's a again, it's not a big deal. There's
no there's no digging, there's no it's just you know,
you find the cold water main as it's coming into
the property, you run the wire. The wire doesn't even
have to be in a conduit. It's it's out, it's exposed.
It's the easiest of all of all the electrical wires
(20:27):
that could be running the house. This is the one
job the electrician would give me. Dean, Hey, you go
and we know you know nothing about being electrician. Do
you run the cold water ground? I'm like, I will, okay,
no problem, so yeah, just go ahead and you know,
nudge him in the right direction if you've got questions
about it.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Appreciate your health, Dean.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Thank you all right, Leo, thanks for the question, bud
See I get to do a science lesson also on
the electrical wiring. That's what makes my job fun. All right,
more of your questions when we return. It's an all
call Saturday morning. I am Dean Sharp, the house Whisperer.
Dean Sharp, the house whisper here to remind you that
(21:08):
every home deserves great design, especially yours. Why because it's yours?
Because you live there, my friend, and we want your
house to be an extraordinary home. Quick question here before
I take one more call today. A quick question that
didn't make it on the air. Bill from Corona shot
(21:29):
me a message asking, hey, AQMD announced today in southern California.
I won't use the language that he used. The second
day after Thanksgiving, cold weather, I want a cozy fire
and they say it's a no burn day and Heather
confirmed this earlier. I think she reported that. And didn't you, Heather,
(21:51):
it's a no burn day here in Sokel? I think, yeah,
all right, So here's why, by the way, and know
the AQ is not out to just poop on your party,
but well, yeah, they kind of are. But the point
is this has nothing to do with the amount of
coldness in the air. If you'll look outside, and I'm
(22:13):
not defending this, I'm just explaining it. If you look outside,
chances are where you're at right now, like where I'm
at in southern California, the air is very still cold
and the air is very still. That is because what's
going on right now is what they call an inter
inversion layer, a winter inversion layer, warm air sitting on
(22:38):
top of us way up there, trapping cold air near
the ground. And because of that, Okay, if the wind
was blowing today and it was cold, then it would
not be a no burn day. But because the air
is very still because of this high pressure system that
apparently is sitting on top of this cold air that
(22:58):
we are in right now, that's when smoke from open fires, chimneys, etc.
Doesn't go anywhere. It just stays in our atmosphere, doesn't
blow away, It just looms and holds itself to the ground.
And the AQMD has a policy against that because it
increases the amount of particulates in the air that we're breathing.
(23:20):
Therefore it is a higher pollution day. Therefore it's a
no burn day. Okay. So if it was cold and windy,
you'd get your fire today, you don't because of the
winter inversion layer. There you go, the more you know,
all right, let's talk to Timothy. Hey, Timothy, welcome home.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
Hidine. We just started a kitchen remodel. It is gutted
down to the studs. We've picked out cabinets, but we're
trying to decide on a counter top. Looking at courtz
court side ran it, what's the best?
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Well, the best the best is the one that is
most attractive to you and provides the most utility for
the kitchen. So I can't tell you what the best is.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Now.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
If we're talking in purely in terms of kitchen performance,
then you know I'm a big fan of quartzite and
quartz quartzite being the natural stone, quartz being the general
umbrella term for synthetic man made countertops that are designed
(24:36):
to look like stone. And the reason is number one.
I am a stone lover. I love natural stone, and
quartzite is very very hard. It's also very dense, very
non porous, Okay, so easy to seal, easy to maintain,
easy to clean. And because of that, you know, I
(24:57):
lean towards natural stones when it comes to kitchens myself.
Generally speaking, there is now every year though the quartz
industry improves upon and improves upon and improves upon their
simulation of natural stones. So if the plan as a
designer for the kitchen is, for instance, like the if
(25:19):
the stone we would want to put in the kitchen
is a marble, like a Calicutta or statuary kind of marble,
then absolutely I'm not putting marble in the kitchen because
marble is way too susceptible to staining, to acids, to
wine stains, all of that kind of stuff. That's when
(25:40):
I'm automatically looking at quartz, because if quartz does anything well,
it simulates and imitates white marbles incredibly, incredibly well. I
mean there's some beautiful versions, and quartz is completely non porous,
and so it's a fantastic countertop surface. If it's not
a marble look we're going for. I'm probably looking in
(26:03):
the direction of quartzite or soap stone or something like that.
The place that I don't look is granite. Granite is,
of all the things I've just mentioned, the hardest surface
there no question, most of the granites very very hard.
But that hard particulation comes at a price. Granite is
(26:24):
very porous, very porous, and if you don't keep it
very well sealed and resealed every let's say in a kitchen,
I would say every six months, then that porosity opens
up and you can get stuff down in the granite
that you cannot clean out anymore. You know, it just
gets down into the granules of the rock and it's
(26:46):
beyond your ability to reach it to clean it. Which
is why, by the way, now it's not the California
Health and Safety Code doesn't make it utterly technically illegal
for commercial restaurants to use granted in the kitchen, So
I want to be clear on that. Technically it's legal,
but practically it's illegal. And the reason is because the
(27:09):
code very specifically states that that surface must be proven
to be sealed and have no bacterial residual content in it,
otherwise it doesn't pass health inspections air go. This is
why most commercial restaurants will not use granted in their kitchens,
because with all the activity that's going on, they'd be
(27:31):
having to seal it like weekly in order to keep
it bacteria free, and nobody's going to do that. So
the point is granted. I know it's in everybody's kitchen
from the eighties and the nineties, but I got to
tell you, granted is the worst material as far as
function to put in a kitchen countertop, So I'm much
(27:51):
more prone to go quartzite or quartz depending on the
design style that you're trying to come up with, or
if it's a dark, dark coun owner top. Soapstone, which
is the most poor on the the least porous of
all natural stones zero porosity, doesn't even need to be
sealed on any level and holds up real well. I
(28:13):
have an island in my own home made out of soapstone.
So how's that? Tim great? Thank you give me you
are so you are so yeah, you're so welcome, my friend.
Thank you so much. Happy holidays. Hey, guess what that's
it for us today? I didn't get to tell you
about the Stall House. You know what, I think, I'm
gonna save that for tomorrow morning. I'm going to start
(28:35):
tomorrow morning's show with giving you this news report on
the Stall House, which is just of architectural interest to
me and maybe to you two it should be. I'll
make it interesting. I promise, don't miss tomorrow's show. It
is the annual House Whisper Holiday Gift Guide. That's right,
the buying guide for Christmas. I've got twenty five items
(28:56):
that will try and run through and tell you how
to shop for that home improvement person in your life.
That's tomorrow from nine to noon. Until then, get out
in this glorious day and get busy building yourself a
beautiful life. We'll see tomorrow. This has been Home with
(29:17):
Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the live broadcast
on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from six
to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday morning from nine
to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on the
iHeartRadio app
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