Speaker 1: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: KFI AM six forty live streaming in HD everywhere on
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app. Hey, welcome home. I am Dean Sharp,
Speaker 2: the house Whisper, I design custom homes, I built some
Speaker 2: custom homes, and I am on the weekends, your guide
Speaker 2: to better understanding that place where you live today on
Speaker 2: the show. Well, here's the thing. It isn't quite spring yet, right,
Speaker 2: not quite technically officially spring yet. We've got what twelve
Speaker 2: days or so before it's actually spring. But spring is
Speaker 2: in the air, there's no doubt about that, and that
Speaker 2: means that remodeling season is upon us. I thought I
Speaker 2: would start out that official season with a discussion with you.
Speaker 2: There's so many things we talk about during the spring
Speaker 2: regarding your home, everything from pest control because those critters
Speaker 2: are up and at them again, to gardening and the like.
Speaker 2: But I thought this weekend we would start with a
Speaker 2: little bit unorthodox, uncommon conversation about those of us who
Speaker 2: are wanting more space, needing a little bit more elbow room,
Speaker 2: a little bit more room for living in our homes,
Speaker 2: but just don't have a full remodeling budget or room
Speaker 2: edition budget to do it. You know, inflation is still
Speaker 2: out there and it hasn't left. Funds are tight for
Speaker 2: a lot of people, but so is the house, and
Speaker 2: so where can we go? What can we do well?
Speaker 2: I'm going to have a conversation with you today and
Speaker 2: tomorrow about two very distinct areas where if we get
Speaker 2: creative enough, we can find some elbow room in the house. Tomorrow,
Speaker 2: we're going to be talking about outdoor spaces. Yep, going outside.
Speaker 2: That's the thing. If you can live more of your
Speaker 2: life outdoors comfortably, comfortable chairs, comfortable seating, enough shade to
Speaker 2: stay cool enough, you know, fire or warmth to stay warm,
Speaker 2: then you really can transform the spacious ness of your home.
Speaker 2: That is tomorrow's show because there's a lot of detail
Speaker 2: to go into there. But today today we're staying inside,
Speaker 2: kind kind of inside, because we're going into the garage. Yes,
Speaker 2: the garage as a flex space for your home. It
Speaker 2: is a oft neglected opportunity because you know what, it's
Speaker 2: already got walls and a roof and a slab. It
Speaker 2: just needs some help. Oh, I know your garage needs
Speaker 2: some help. I've seen your garage. Oh, yes, I have
Speaker 2: in my dreams, in my nightmares. Actually I've seen your
Speaker 2: So let's talk about getting your garage converted into a
Speaker 2: space that will accommodate some of that extra living that
Speaker 2: you want to do. I'm not talking about ADUs. I'm
Speaker 2: not talking about converting it into a bathroom, kitchen, living
Speaker 2: studio space. Those are other shows for other purposes, and
Speaker 2: those are, you know, costlier, that's like a full on thing. No,
Speaker 2: I'm talking about creating, with a minimal amount of money,
Speaker 2: a space that you can spend some of your life
Speaker 2: in willingly and enjoyably. So we're going to do it.
Speaker 2: Of course, we're also going to be taking your calls.
Speaker 2: And right now, the legendary Michelle Cube producing the show
Speaker 2: for us today. Richie is taking the weekend off, Michelle
Speaker 2: is with us. I am so proud and so happy
Speaker 2: every time we get to work with Michelle and she
Speaker 2: is standing by ready to take your calls. And of
Speaker 2: course when we take calls, anything is fair game. I'm
Speaker 2: talking about garages today. You can call me about anything
Speaker 2: regarding your home, inside, outside, landscape, design, construction, DIY, whatever's
Speaker 2: got you scratching your head about your house. The number
Speaker 2: to reach me eight three three two ask Dean eight
Speaker 2: three three the numeral two ask Dean eight three three
Speaker 2: to ask Dean. Those phone lines are open now and
Speaker 2: Michelle is standing by. Let me introduce you to the
Speaker 2: rest of our awesome team. Sam is on the board
Speaker 2: wrestling R not So live studio audience. Good morning Sam,
Speaker 2: Good morning Dean. I was just marveling at the fact
Speaker 2: that you have your own phone number and I want one.
Speaker 2: Come on like eight six six two four Sam something
Speaker 2: there you go. You know what, Hey, it was not
Speaker 2: getting an eight hundred number these days not an easy
Speaker 2: task to do, you know what. Eight and a half
Speaker 2: years ago when we started the show, Oscar and I
Speaker 2: searched for weeks to come up with the right combination
Speaker 2: of letters and numbers that made sense. So in ours,
Speaker 2: by the way, is one digit too long? Just FYI?
Speaker 2: Uh so you don't have to actually dial the end
Speaker 2: in eight three three to ask Dean. If you count
Speaker 2: it out, you're like, wait, that's that's too long of
Speaker 2: a number. Yeah. We just added the n on the
Speaker 2: end because it makes sense. Otherwise you'd be dialing a
Speaker 2: three three to ask Dea, and that is a completely
Speaker 2: different show. Sam it's a totally way different, so so
Speaker 2: just dial the in and have fun anyway, Sam, always
Speaker 2: great to work with you, Bud I Lean Gonzales at
Speaker 2: the news desk, Good morning, I Leen, Good morning, Sunshine.
Speaker 2: How's it going. I'm doing pretty good. You're very cheaper today,
Speaker 2: am I? Yeah? All right, Well it's a good thing.
Speaker 2: This coffee is good and about two thirds of this
Speaker 2: cup is in me already, so maybe that's key. I
Speaker 2: need some of that. Yeah, sitting across the table from me,
Speaker 2: grab a mic. Why don't you? What's the deal with you?
Speaker 2: What's the deal with you? Hello, my better half. You
Speaker 2: know I say this every week, but it is just
Speaker 2: absolutely true. I would not tell you if it weren't
Speaker 2: that way. She is my better half. She is my
Speaker 2: design partner, the co owner and co founder of House Whisper,
Speaker 2: and my best friend in all the world. Tina is
Speaker 2: here home. Nice pause? I like that. I like that.
Speaker 2: And you have a friend next to you, Sammy Beagle. No,
Speaker 2: not the elephant, No, the other elephant in the room.
Speaker 2: The eagle, the sweet much happier everyone on the everyone
Speaker 2: who heard the live show, What a couple of Oh
Speaker 2: the screaming bagel screaming bagel. Sammy pinched a nerve in
Speaker 2: his neck, which happens to beagles as they get older sometimes,
Speaker 2: And he was in a bad pain for several days.
Speaker 2: But we got him all his meds, We got it
Speaker 2: all loosened up. He went back to the vet yesterday,
Speaker 2: clean bill of health. Sammy's feeling much better and much quieter,
Speaker 2: and which is good for Daddy's nerves. On the show,
Speaker 2: All right, y'all, we're gonna dive into it. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: had to wait for Bill to talk there. Dean sharp
Speaker 2: vows whisper. Never be in a situation. Never put yourself
Speaker 2: in a situation where you were waiting for Bill Handle
Speaker 2: to say something. Just a piece of advice in general. Hey,
Speaker 2: whether your home is a condo or a cottage or
Speaker 2: a castle, it doesn't matter. I am here to help
Speaker 2: you take it to the next level. We're also going
Speaker 2: to be taking calls today. I'm going to give out
Speaker 2: the number once again, eight three three to ask Dean,
Speaker 2: the number that Sam is so jealous of, because I
Speaker 2: have my own name on my number, eight three three two.
Speaker 2: Ask Dean the numeral two and then you just spell
Speaker 2: out ask Dean. So it's a three three two beep,
Speaker 2: ask Dean. That always makes Tina laugh. I was just
Speaker 2: making sure she was paying attention a three to three
Speaker 2: to ask Dean. All right, let's dive into this topic,
Speaker 2: shall we. What we're talking about today is very simply
Speaker 2: this where to get the most space for the least money. Tomorrow,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be talking about getting outside, getting some elbow
Speaker 2: room outside. No, I'm not talking about adding bedrooms or
Speaker 2: bathrooms today. Okay, we're We're focusing on those of us
Speaker 2: who have some money to make some changes in the house,
Speaker 2: but not enough to do a full blown room edition
Speaker 2: or anything like that. We just need more space. And
Speaker 2: you know, here is a situation where the conversation about
Speaker 2: space and spacious ness doesn't apply so much. I you
Speaker 2: hear me talk about that all the time, reformulating your
Speaker 2: space so that it feels more spacess. I'm not really
Speaker 2: focused on that. I'm actually talking about more space, more
Speaker 2: square footage, but not in the traditional sense of a
Speaker 2: room edition, simply improving living conditions in spaces that you
Speaker 2: already have but that you haven't maximized. And one of
Speaker 2: those spaces where we're concentrating today is the garage the garage. Now,
Speaker 2: there are two obstacles that stand in the way of
Speaker 2: everything that I want to talk to you about this
Speaker 2: morning regarding your garage, and I think you know what
Speaker 2: they are. One is an automobile. It actually is not
Speaker 2: the biggest obstacle. It is the second biggest obstacle. But
Speaker 2: an automobile parked in the garage obviously takes up the
Speaker 2: space of an automobile parked in the garage. And if
Speaker 2: you are going to continue to park your automobile in
Speaker 2: the garage, then that doesn't stop you from moving forward
Speaker 2: with today's suggestions. It just means that that garage is
Speaker 2: going to be a flex space, not a permanent allocation,
Speaker 2: but a flex space. In other words, that you're going
Speaker 2: to strategize and creatively work out how the garage can
Speaker 2: be used during the times when you simply pull the
Speaker 2: car out into the driveway and then with a little
Speaker 2: bit a minimal moving around, a little slidiness over here,
Speaker 2: and moving that over there away from the walls, suddenly
Speaker 2: we have a different kind of a room altogether. So
Speaker 2: that's very very much within the parameters of what we're
Speaker 2: discussing today. And so a garage with a car in.
Speaker 2: It does not end this conversation, It just forces it
Speaker 2: to get more creative. The thing that's really in the way,
Speaker 2: you know, is all that stuff. You know, you have
Speaker 2: too much stuff. I can say that safely because we
Speaker 2: all have too much stuff. It's just and if you're
Speaker 2: sitting there thinking I don't have a lot of stuff
Speaker 2: in my garage, then you, my friend, are ready to
Speaker 2: go with all of these suggestions. But for everybody else, yeah,
Speaker 2: too much stuff. And how do I know that you
Speaker 2: have too much stuff? Because you've got the garage piled
Speaker 2: full of stuff. And let's be honest and honesty here
Speaker 2: is the key to mental health when it comes to
Speaker 2: having too much stuff. This is stuff that you just
Speaker 2: don't use. You don't get to, you don't dig through it.
Speaker 2: It's a pile of stuff, and you keep telling yourself, oh,
Speaker 2: but I might need that someday. No, you listen, it's
Speaker 2: been years since you've really gotten to all of that.
Speaker 2: You have too much stuff. And the very first step
Speaker 2: and the biggest thing that stands between you and utilizing
Speaker 2: what is without question, I mean, think about this, an
Speaker 2: additional four hundred plus square feet. That's a lot of room,
Speaker 2: a lot of room. What stands in the way. It's
Speaker 2: all that stuff. All right, when we come back, we'll
Speaker 2: discuss reasonable efficient ways of storing some of that stuff.
Speaker 2: But I'm just telling you the rest of it, the
Speaker 2: rest of it needs to go. You will be so
Speaker 2: much happier when it does. All right, we'll talk about
Speaker 2: strategies for your stuff in the garage.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: Can't five AM six forty live streaming in HD on
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app. Welcome to the program, Dean Sharp, the
Speaker 2: house whisper here with you. We're talking about taking advantage
Speaker 2: of some of the space that you've already got in
Speaker 2: unorthodox or unconventional ways, namely talking about those who want
Speaker 2: to spend the least amount of money and get the
Speaker 2: most space, spending some time in the garage, using the
Speaker 2: garage as a flex space. Now, I want to clarify
Speaker 2: a couple of things. I know I said some incendiary
Speaker 2: things about garages in the last segment, and so let
Speaker 2: me just clarify my thinking here so that you and
Speaker 2: I are not at odds with each other. I want
Speaker 2: us to be friends. Here's the thing, I know that
Speaker 2: I want to explode a couple of myths. Number One,
Speaker 2: garages are important for cars. They are depending on where
Speaker 2: you live. Okay, notice I qualified that depending on where
Speaker 2: you live and what your attitude is about your car
Speaker 2: as well. So we have a lot of listeners all
Speaker 2: across this great nation of ours, and so for those
Speaker 2: of you who are listening in high snow and heavy
Speaker 2: winter areas, of course I understand we want to get
Speaker 2: the car into the garage, all right, because no one
Speaker 2: wants to wake up and dig their car out of
Speaker 2: the snow in the morning, nor do you want to
Speaker 2: wake up to the frozen engine block or anything like that.
Speaker 2: So garages are critical shelters for automobiles in areas that
Speaker 2: have severe weather extremes, absolutely, without question done. For those
Speaker 2: of you in who live in those areas, we're probably
Speaker 2: going to take today's lessons and apply them to the basement.
Speaker 2: So let's just make that little switch of application there
Speaker 2: and just assume that what we're talking about for that
Speaker 2: flex space now becomes the basement area, which technically is
Speaker 2: you know, has not been habitable, but is there a
Speaker 2: lot of different purposes. However, those of you who live
Speaker 2: in areas where the weather does not get that extreme,
Speaker 2: like let's see southern California, you just need to rethink
Speaker 2: possibly the whole car position for the garage. Okay, most
Speaker 2: people just kind of follow suit and they're like, well, deane,
Speaker 2: cars age more severely if they are not stored indoors. Well, see,
Speaker 2: that's technically true, technically true. But let's think about this
Speaker 2: for a second. The number one thing that ages a
Speaker 2: car about the outside is not rain, not even snow
Speaker 2: or ice. It is, in fact, the sun. It is
Speaker 2: the sun that is that is going to do the
Speaker 2: most long term damage. And for those of you who work,
Speaker 2: and I'm assuming most of you do, then I just
Speaker 2: want to point this out. The sun is out during
Speaker 2: the day. Was that a shocker? Yeah, the sun is
Speaker 2: out during the day, So far more important than parking
Speaker 2: your car in the garage at night when the sun
Speaker 2: isn't out anyway, Far more important to the aging of
Speaker 2: your or the premature aging of your car is finding
Speaker 2: a shady or covered parking space when you drive it
Speaker 2: to work. Yes, sitting outside your workplace all day is
Speaker 2: actually where your car is experiencing the most exposure to sunlight.
Speaker 2: When you get home, at five o'clock or later at
Speaker 2: night and the sun has gone down. Guess what is
Speaker 2: not happening with your car outside? It is not prematurely
Speaker 2: aging in the sun as it sits under the moonlit sky.
Speaker 2: So just a little bit of FYI, okay, now I
Speaker 2: get it outside inside. And again, our discussion today about
Speaker 2: the garage as a flex space is is really built
Speaker 2: around the idea that you're still using the garage for
Speaker 2: the car. You don't have to, but we still are
Speaker 2: assuming that it is. But for those of you who
Speaker 2: want to take the garage permanently in a further direction,
Speaker 2: just consider the fact that the possibility you could park
Speaker 2: in the driveway still be safe and not prematural in
Speaker 2: your a premature prem to prem aging your car faster
Speaker 2: than normal. All I'm saying is that now this is
Speaker 2: one you know, I have nice cars, all right. I
Speaker 2: love our cars. We love our cars. Tina and I
Speaker 2: moved into our little cottage, and it was a very
Speaker 2: little cottage when we first bought it, and we expanded
Speaker 2: into what was previously our garage, and we made a
Speaker 2: decision not to replay place the garage because we just
Speaker 2: park outside. Now we live in a neighborhood where we're
Speaker 2: not worried about our car, you know, in terms of safety.
Speaker 2: But we park our cars in our driveways. We always
Speaker 2: have and we probably always will as long as we
Speaker 2: live here in southern California. Again, inclement weather different story,
Speaker 2: but out here, and you know what, we'd drive our
Speaker 2: cars into the ground. I mean, we literally run them
Speaker 2: until they are two hundred plus thousand miles and just
Speaker 2: shouldn't go any further. And all of our cars still
Speaker 2: look lovely. So keep it washed, keep it waxed, and
Speaker 2: let it live outside. Cars can do that these days.
Speaker 2: And that allowed us to have our little home a
Speaker 2: little bit larger because we use the garage for a
Speaker 2: permanent space. All I'm talking to you about is the
Speaker 2: possibility of occasionally setting up the garage so that you
Speaker 2: can pull the cars out and really use it as
Speaker 2: a beautiful habitable space. I just want to just want
Speaker 2: to lay that out there. So now the strategies for
Speaker 2: storage and how we clean that garage up. That's where
Speaker 2: we go next. Can't by being charted the house whisper
Speaker 2: Welcome home, thanks for joining us on the program. We're
Speaker 2: talking about finding some extra space, elbow room in your home.
Speaker 2: And I'm specifically talking today about the garage. Tomorrow we'll
Speaker 2: talk about getting outside, especially if you live here in
Speaker 2: southern California or you know, anywhere during in the spring
Speaker 2: and summer months, getting outside is a place that you
Speaker 2: can actually get more space for living, living a little
Speaker 2: bit more outside. Just snowflake, Ah that did I say that.
Speaker 2: I did not mean that exactly, but sort of kind of.
Speaker 2: We we really do. We spend way more time indoors
Speaker 2: than we need to. And so by making our outdoor
Speaker 2: space is more comfortable the space that's already there. It's
Speaker 2: a way of stretching our legs and getting more space,
Speaker 2: utilizing more of the space we already have. That's really
Speaker 2: the key. All right, today's the garage. So here is
Speaker 2: the thing or when it comes to transforming the garage
Speaker 2: into whatever you want to transform it into. Obviously step one,
Speaker 2: I'm not going to be labor this point. You got
Speaker 2: a GAF to get rid of junk. Okay, purge. I
Speaker 2: don't want you to throw away important stuff, but you
Speaker 2: got to purge. And if you're not using stuff and
Speaker 2: you're not accessing stuff, you don't need it, get it
Speaker 2: off site, put it in some storage area somewhere that
Speaker 2: you're going to pay three hundred dollars a month for
Speaker 2: and forget about forever. Fine, but get it out of
Speaker 2: your way in your own home. I'd prefer you sell
Speaker 2: it or donate it and just get it out and
Speaker 2: clear it out. But either way, if you're looking for
Speaker 2: more space, you've got four hundred plus square feet of
Speaker 2: it sitting right out there now. Garage is coming different,
Speaker 2: you know, conditions. If you live in an older home,
Speaker 2: you may still have a bare stud wall garage in
Speaker 2: other words, just studs and no dry wall anywhere. That's fine,
Speaker 2: totally fine, because those of you who have a dry
Speaker 2: walled garage right now, I want you to embrace and
Speaker 2: understand the idea that I might might have you taken
Speaker 2: the drywall off three of those walls, three of them.
Speaker 2: What do you mean, three, dean, Well, if it's an
Speaker 2: attached garage, the wall between you and the house is
Speaker 2: already insulated and covered in at least five eights thick
Speaker 2: dry wall because it has to be a fire rated
Speaker 2: wall because technically your garage is considered outdoors in terms
Speaker 2: of the building code. So that door that goes into
Speaker 2: the home from the garage is a you know, a
Speaker 2: one hour or twenty minute fire rated door, a solid
Speaker 2: core exterior style door with a closer on it hopefully.
Speaker 2: And that wall is either a stuccoed wall or it's
Speaker 2: a wall covered in at least five eighths dry wall
Speaker 2: in order to meet code requirements. And that wall is
Speaker 2: actually insulated because the garage is not a conditioned space.
Speaker 2: So just a couple of notes when it comes to
Speaker 2: the garage as far as conditioning the space out there,
Speaker 2: heating it, or cooling it, it's going to need its
Speaker 2: own system, okay, which these days is not a big deal.
Speaker 2: Put a mini split system in there. We could put
Speaker 2: a portable AC system in there, We could put portable
Speaker 2: infrared heaters out there, but the most comfortable would be
Speaker 2: a built in system, and that would be a mini
Speaker 2: split its own system connected to the garage. And the
Speaker 2: reason why it's got to be its own system is because,
Speaker 2: again for fire safety purposes, we cannot connect and open
Speaker 2: up a hole between the garage and the rest of
Speaker 2: the house. In other words, we cannot just grab an
Speaker 2: AC duct out of the attic and a hole into
Speaker 2: the garage wall in order to bring the AC and
Speaker 2: the heat from the rest of the house into the garage.
Speaker 2: That is a code violation. It violates the fire wall
Speaker 2: between the garage and the house, and it's not allowed. Okay,
Speaker 2: nor is it allowed. And I know some of you
Speaker 2: are like, oh, geez. You know, a few years ago
Speaker 2: I put that attic access door in the garage so
Speaker 2: that I could just crawl up in a ladder from
Speaker 2: the garage and get into the attic over the rest
Speaker 2: of the house. Yeah, that's not good. That's not supposed
Speaker 2: to be there. There needs to be an absolute floor
Speaker 2: to top of roof barrier between the garage space and
Speaker 2: the rest of the house so that fire cannot start
Speaker 2: in the garage and spread right over the rest of
Speaker 2: the house. Okay, that's a separation that cannot be violated.
Speaker 2: So that means we treat the garage independently of the house.
Speaker 2: But the good news is the garage doesn't need a
Speaker 2: whole lot, even at four to five to six hundred
Speaker 2: square feet these days. A mini split system that's a
Speaker 2: heat pump system that can cool and heat the room
Speaker 2: together with just a one cartridge. It'll get the job
Speaker 2: done beautifully, quietly, relatively inexpensively. If you're getting serious about
Speaker 2: making that a conditioned space. So the other reason I said,
Speaker 2: if we're really really going to transform the garage is
Speaker 2: I probably want to get to the stud bays anyway
Speaker 2: so we can move a little bit of electrical around,
Speaker 2: because that doesn't cost much money to get electrical out
Speaker 2: that's exactly where we want them. And also I want
Speaker 2: to finally insulate those other three walls, the wall that
Speaker 2: the garage door is on and the other couple of
Speaker 2: walls that aren't touching the house. Any wall that isn't
Speaker 2: shared with the rest of the house is probably even
Speaker 2: though it's dry walled, if you live in a newer
Speaker 2: built home. By newer, I mean like you know, it's
Speaker 2: not that new these days, but home built in the
Speaker 2: late eighties through you know, and beyond probably has a
Speaker 2: dry walled garage. But if you look behind that drywall,
Speaker 2: the chances of there being insulation in the walls that
Speaker 2: aren't shared with the house very very low. If you
Speaker 2: happen to have it, great. If not, just understand, drywall
Speaker 2: is not that expensive. Pull the drywall off, strip the
Speaker 2: garage down so you can get to move electrical around easily,
Speaker 2: water lines, anything else that you want to be doing
Speaker 2: in there, and then popping in insulation, and the insulation
Speaker 2: I would recommend would probably be rock mineral wool insulation,
Speaker 2: so that not only you'd get the best R value
Speaker 2: for in between those studs and stud base, but also
Speaker 2: you get the best sound dampening insulation as well. And
Speaker 2: we have found that mineral wool does much, much, much
Speaker 2: better than just regular fiberglass insulation. So that's where you know,
Speaker 2: that's the brass tax of dealing with the walls, okay
Speaker 2: in a garage space. To take it back to the studs,
Speaker 2: get the insulation, the electrical and everything reconfigured the way
Speaker 2: you want for television screens, for cable supply, for whatever
Speaker 2: the case may be. However, going to transform this room,
Speaker 2: media room, gym, storage area, game room, all of these options,
Speaker 2: and then after that we've got to deal with the slab,
Speaker 2: and I'm going to talk about that. But when we
Speaker 2: come back, it's top of the hour. It's time to
Speaker 2: go to the phones. So we're going to press pause
Speaker 2: on this conversation, take a couple of calls, and then
Speaker 2: we'll come back and finish up or continue our conversation
Speaker 2: about what we can do with the garage to make
Speaker 2: it real usable extra elbow room space. You're listening to
Speaker 2: Home with Dean Sharp The House Whisper on KFI.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty