@WakeUpCall – Waking Up with the House Whisperer

The host of ‘Home’ on KFI Dean Sharp joins the show and talks about rain and how to prepare your home for the wet weather.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's say good morning now to the host of home
on KFI. Our soggy house, whispered Dean Sharp, good morning, Ogi.
Well is it raining where you are?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Oh yeah, okay, Well there you go.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Although I would imagine that your home is probably already
ready for the rain. But let's talk about rain and
your home.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yeah, here's the thing. It's raining. The storms are here,
and so as far as getting ready, it's too late.
It's too late to get ready. I mean, there's if
you have any suspicion that you may have some flooding
problems up against the house, then it's not too late

(00:39):
probably to run down to the big box store, the
hardware store and pick up a couple of these great
little products called quick dam okay, bickdam. Are basically sand
bags without sand in them. They're a little packet of
I call them house diapers because that's how they work.
If you can imagine, the material inside these little bags

(01:01):
are kind of like the material in a you know,
a high tech diaper, in that they absorb a tremendous
amount of water and then they get heavy and then
they act like a sandbag and so. But the cool
thing is that they don't weigh one hundred pounds. They
weigh less than a pound when you carry out, you know,
a bag of six Now, they're a little pricey in

(01:21):
the sense that you know it's gonna set you back
thirty or forty dollars, But if it's the difference between
water coming in the kitchen door and not, then it's
well worth the investment. That's about all that I want
you to do at this point, other than get out
a bucket or two if you've got water dropping, you know,
leaking from the ceiling, because I don't want you up
on the roof. Get off. Don't no ladders, No up

(01:44):
on the roof while it's while we're in the middle
of a rainstorm. You are more important than your house
or your floor, and so just stay safe and then
we'll talk about the aftermath when the rain is cleared.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Okay, we can. I ask you one question about this
buick damn thing so quick, damn uh. They don't weigh
very much. What's in them? Is it like those gel things?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, it's like those crystal and gels that you would find,
you know, I mean, if you've ever seen a kid's diaper,
you know they weigh nothing and pretty much. You know,
you could put a gallon of water inside a diaper
and it's still holding. And it's the easiest way to explain. Now,
obviously it's not exactly the same thing, but it's easy.
The easiest way to explain how these quick damn bags work,

(02:27):
and that is that you just roll them out and
they weigh nothing, and you wait for the water to
come and if the water arrives at them, they will
begin to absorb it and then they get very heavy
because they hold on to the.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Water very cool, and then create even more of a barrier. Okay,
so nothing to do besides put in a little barrier there.
And this is a problem actually at my apartment that
when it rains really really hard, I do get a leak,
and they've tried to fix it and tried to fix it.
So after the rain stops, how do you find where
the leaks are coming in?

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, that is a tricky thing, even for an experienced professional.
I'll just tell you right now, we should not assume
that the leak in the roof is right above where
the water is coming into the room, okay, because there
are so many places for water to run and move
along wood elements and building elements before it actually drips

(03:20):
and then eventually finds its way down through the drywall
and into the room. So it's gonna be near it ish,
but not necessarily right above. So we don't want to
just again, we don't want to make the mistake of
getting up on the roof and saying, well, I know
where the leak is dripping through the house, so I'm
just gonna put a bunch of mastic or Henry's patching
compound right here. Yeah, not a guarantee. Water rolls downhill

(03:44):
and so anywhere higher on the roof, and you know,
within ten to twenty feet of where the leak is
could be the actual source of the water coming through
the roof. If you can get in the attic again
after the storm, look around, try and see traces of
where the water has moved against elements, framing elements and

(04:08):
so on. That's one thing. Probably though after the fact,
it's time to call in a roofer and door a
builder and let them try and figure it out.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Okay, see just a couple of great tips for you
as the rain is falling, and I would imagine you'll
be talking a lot about rain and its aftermath and
how to make your home ready for the next storm
on your show this weekend. You can listen to Dean
It's home right Here on KFI with Dean Sharp six
to eight on Saturday, nine to noon on Sunday, and

(04:38):
you can follow them at Home with Dean.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Thank you, Dean, Thanks Amy