Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp The
Speaker 1: House Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Dean
Speaker 1: Sharp the House Whisper. I design custom homes.
Speaker 2: I build a few of them too, and every weekend
Speaker 2: I sit here as your guide to better understanding that
Speaker 2: place where you live. Our goal to take your ordinary
Speaker 2: house and make it as much as possible and extraordinary home.
Speaker 2: Today on the show, we're going to encounter something that
Speaker 2: is not the easiest thing in the world to resolve,
Speaker 2: but a really really important part of putting together the
Speaker 2: ideal environment at home, and that is getting control of sound.
Speaker 2: Getting control of sound. Now you notice I didn't just
Speaker 2: say soundproofing, soundproofing your home, as if that was such
Speaker 2: an easy thing to do, which it's not. Well, here's
Speaker 2: the other aspect of this. The reason we are not
Speaker 2: entitling this episode soundproofing is that soundproofing is an aspect
Speaker 2: of heart of what we're trying to achieve by lowering
Speaker 2: sound pollution or noise pollution as it enters your home
Speaker 2: or your property. But it's not the goal. Soundproofing should
Speaker 2: not be the goal it used to be, but that
Speaker 2: has changed in recent years and why has it changed. Well,
Speaker 2: it's changed because our scientific understanding of the role of
Speaker 2: sound in our lives is evolving, is maturing, is changing.
Speaker 2: Absolute utter silence, which is, of course what the goal
Speaker 2: of soundproofing is, is no longer the goal of an
Speaker 2: ideal human habitation. It's not what we are after. It
Speaker 2: may be what we're after inside this studio because we
Speaker 2: have a very specific task at hand and we want
Speaker 2: complete control of the sound inside this room, but it
Speaker 2: is not the ideal for human habitation. So more on
Speaker 2: that as we roll out. We're going to take a
Speaker 2: deep dive into getting control of sound in your home,
Speaker 2: on your property, and that's going to involve a number
Speaker 2: of different things. Soundproofing techniques. Absolutely, we'll talk about everything
Speaker 2: from mineral wool to mass loaded vinyl, dual glaze windows,
Speaker 2: double layered dry wall, block walls, tree cover, air ceiling.
Speaker 2: Your home is a factor. And we're gonna also get
Speaker 2: into the idea of decoupling. No, not getting rid of
Speaker 2: your spouse or your life partner, not that kind of decoupling.
Speaker 2: Decouple a is a concept that I want everybody who's
Speaker 2: listening to me today to un understand, and it really
Speaker 2: kind of grasp fully before we are done today, because
Speaker 2: decoupling is one of the critical elements of getting control
Speaker 2: of sound, of stopping noise pollution from getting from point
Speaker 2: A to point b. We have to basically break the
Speaker 2: bridges that that energy travels over so that it doesn't
Speaker 2: get from point A to point B. Sound absorption is
Speaker 2: going to be part of our conversation, and now a
Speaker 2: huge part of our conversation will also be sound masking,
Speaker 2: which is when you can't get rid of sounds that
Speaker 2: are coming your way. But what we do is we
Speaker 2: join them with other sounds, mask them, or blend them
Speaker 2: with other sounds that change the way the human mind
Speaker 2: perceives the sound, changes it literally from noise to something
Speaker 2: that is stress reducing. Okay, so instead of stress inducing,
Speaker 2: which is now the scientific definition of noise, we want
Speaker 2: to change that sound into something that is stress reducing,
Speaker 2: and so that's part of our goal. Anyway, So many
Speaker 2: places to go today and we're going to do it all.
Speaker 2: And of course also we'll be taking your calls as
Speaker 2: we do, especially right smack dab in the center of
Speaker 2: the show. The phone lines are open right now. Now
Speaker 2: is your chance to give me a call. And of course,
Speaker 2: when it comes to calls, it's all about you. It's
Speaker 2: all about whatever's going on. I'm talking about sound control today.
Speaker 2: You can call me on anything going on that's got
Speaker 2: you scratching your head about your home. So, whether it
Speaker 2: is a design question, an architectural question, a decore question,
Speaker 2: a construction issue, a DIY concern, you name it, anything
Speaker 2: you want to talk about regarding your home, that's what
Speaker 2: your call can be about. The number to reach me
Speaker 2: eight three to three, to ask Dean eight three three,
Speaker 2: the numeral two and then you just spell out ask
Speaker 2: Dean eight three three two, ask Dean. It's just that simple.
Speaker 2: Producer Matt Toffler standing by. The phone lines are open.
Speaker 2: We're ready for you right now. Let me introduce you
Speaker 2: to our awesome team that brings you this show so
Speaker 2: faithfully every week. Elmer, of course, is on the board.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Elmer, Good morning Dean. How you doing, How
Speaker 2: you doing, Bud? How you doing? Are you with me?
Speaker 2: I'm doing good, yeah, you know, I'm up and uh yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm just happy. So glad to be here. All right,
Speaker 2: all right, that's good to hear, good to hear Elmer.
Speaker 2: By the way, you know just for as little as
Speaker 2: he comments, right, just mellow, chill. He's the guys manning everything.
Speaker 2: He has got the board. I mean, he's in control
Speaker 2: of everything. I am just the talking head here who
Speaker 2: gets to share time with you thanks to you, all
Speaker 2: of me. Maybe exactly, that's what I'm talking about, Laser guy. Uh.
Speaker 2: We got producer Matt Toffler. I think I already mentioned
Speaker 2: that Matt is awesome, and he's nowhere near Mike, but
Speaker 2: he is on the phones. He's ready. That's who you're
Speaker 2: gonna hear when you call in. And I know you're
Speaker 2: going to call in. Uh eight three three two ask
Speaker 2: Dean A three three the numeral two ask Dean. Matt
Speaker 2: will tell you everything you need to know, and you
Speaker 2: can listen to the show while you're sitting in the queue.
Speaker 2: And of course, my buddy Eileen Gonzalez at the news desk,
Speaker 2: Good morning, Eileen, Good morning Dean. How's it going today.
Speaker 2: It's going pretty good.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: It's the first weekend of summer, it's the first Sunday
Speaker 2: of summer. It's beautiful Southern California weather. It's a great
Speaker 2: day to bomb a foreign country. That is from what
Speaker 2: I heard.
Speaker 1: Right yeah, we're going on summer. Can we just can
Speaker 1: we just enjoy a weekend?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Every week. I'm not making any comments. I know it's something.
Speaker 2: It's something. I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2: I tell you what we're at today. I got up
Speaker 2: this morning, coffee, made my oat meal, dropped some blueberries
Speaker 2: and bombed my oat meal with some blueberries. Lovely yum.
Speaker 2: And uh, just sat down and spent a little time
Speaker 2: with Tina and then sat down and and it was
Speaker 2: just great. We've got a backpacking trip coming up, which
Speaker 2: you know I should talk about on the other side
Speaker 2: of the break, not to not to drag it out.
Speaker 2: We're going up to a place where I have spent
Speaker 2: so much time in my life, and I will. I mean,
Speaker 2: it is my second home, the Eastern Sierra's. We're going up.
Speaker 2: We're actually taking our granddaughter Olivia, who was eight, on
Speaker 2: her very first she's been gone camping before, carneal car camping,
Speaker 2: but no, this is her very first overnight too, overnight
Speaker 2: full on backpacking. I mean, we're going to a place
Speaker 2: you cannot get to with a car. You've got to
Speaker 2: backpack it in and uh, and it's gonna be glory.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you a little bit more about it on
Speaker 2: the other side of the break.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 2: It's just no bathrooms, right, just tent camping, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. Anyway, I live lots of memories that'll
Speaker 2: be great. Oh my gosh. And this is a gorgeous
Speaker 2: first hike for her. It is stunning, stunning. Anyway, I'll
Speaker 2: tell everybody about it a little on the other side
Speaker 2: of the break. Sitting across the table from me, my
Speaker 2: better half, my backpacking companion, my design partner, my best
Speaker 2: buddy in all the world, Tina is here. What's the
Speaker 2: plan today? You're smoking from chicken. There's your elephant. We
Speaker 2: saw a great elephant video this morning, baby elephant who
Speaker 2: was tried to charge a Safari van and slipped and
Speaker 2: rolled over onage. It's very cute. Today is Dodger Day.
Speaker 2: Today's Dodger Day. After the show is pitching one o'clock game. Yes,
Speaker 2: very show. Hey, starting again, yep, right, it's great. So
Speaker 2: we're gonna watch the game. You're smoking some chicken, some chicken.
Speaker 2: We're gonna go through our backpacking checklist. Yep. We might
Speaker 2: have to make a trip to Arii later, or we
Speaker 2: are gonna have to make a trip at some point
Speaker 2: to get to pick out our food, our freeze dried
Speaker 2: ad water food. It's gonna be great anyway. We're kind
Speaker 2: of in that groove, all right, everybody. Here's the thing,
Speaker 2: getting control of sound on your home other than telling
Speaker 2: you where I'm going backpacking. That's what we're talking about
Speaker 2: on the show today, and we will do it.
Speaker 3: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 3: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: Hey follow us on social media. It's just a suggestion.
Speaker 2: I'm not telling you you have to, but it's a suggestion.
Speaker 2: We're fun. We don't annoy you on social media, but
Speaker 2: that way you can keep up with little things that
Speaker 2: happen here and there. We haven't been doing a lot
Speaker 2: of it lately, I'm being honest with you. Life has
Speaker 2: been very busy, very busy, a lot of stuff going on,
Speaker 2: but it does happen, and when it happens, you don't
Speaker 2: want to miss it. We're on all the usual suspects, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X,
Speaker 2: Home with Dean, same handle for them all. And also
Speaker 2: I say this from time to time if your home
Speaker 2: is in need of some personal house Whisperer Designed. Attention.
Speaker 2: Why because design matters most? Yes it does. You can
Speaker 2: book an in home design console, not with the not
Speaker 2: with some person from our firm. I'm talking about me
Speaker 2: and the tea showing up at your house staring at
Speaker 2: the problem with you. All you have to do is
Speaker 2: go to house Whisperer dot Design for more information on
Speaker 2: that house Whisperer dot Design. Okay, one more time. We've
Speaker 2: got the phone lines open. We're going to be going
Speaker 2: to the calls in a little while. Uh, eight three
Speaker 2: three two, ask Dean. Is the number to reach me?
Speaker 2: Eight three to three the numeral two, ask dean. Uh.
Speaker 2: And yes, we are going backpacking. We're very excited. We're
Speaker 2: going to a little a place, a little trail called
Speaker 2: Little Lakes Valley. It's in the eastern Sierra. The trailhead
Speaker 2: is about it's about halfway in between Bishop and Mammoth.
Speaker 2: And the trailhead starts at ten thousand feet. Oh yeah, yeah, No.
Speaker 2: When I go backpacking, I want to get some serious elevation.
Speaker 2: And we start at ten thousand feet we will end
Speaker 2: up a little over eleven thousand square feet and the
Speaker 2: entire path, the entire trail getting to where we're going
Speaker 2: square I said, square feet. Oh my gosh, I am adorable.
Speaker 2: I cannot even I can't even get get houses out
Speaker 2: of the brain. I can't square feet. No, eleven thousand
Speaker 2: feet in elevation above Zea level. Nothing. But I think
Speaker 2: there are seven if I counted right, there are seven
Speaker 2: pristine alpine lakes and meadows, just all of it. I mean,
Speaker 2: it is, Tina. You should post maybe we'll post a
Speaker 2: pick of just one of the shots so people can
Speaker 2: see the hellscape that we will have to endure to get.
Speaker 2: It is just it is literally my version of Evan,
Speaker 2: That's what it is. So yes, that was darcasm. Anyway,
Speaker 2: we're doing that, and we're very excited about that. It's
Speaker 2: going to be great. A little bit of fishing catch
Speaker 2: and release only. But those trout in those lakes have
Speaker 2: been under ice. It's just now thought out, so they've
Speaker 2: been under ice for months. So even an idiotic, unskilled
Speaker 2: fisherman like myself, you know, you have to work hard
Speaker 2: not to get a bite. They are so hungry to
Speaker 2: munch on anything. And Livy is going to have a blast.
Speaker 2: So anyway, yeah, that's what's coming up. And so I'm
Speaker 2: pretty jazzed about it. Okay, let's get control of sound
Speaker 2: in your home noise. Noise used to be a word
Speaker 2: like weed, weeds. And here I'll explain what I mean
Speaker 2: by that. Exactly what a weed is is entirely subjective.
Speaker 2: Did you know that people are always surprised Some people
Speaker 2: are surprised to hear this. Weed is not a scientific classification.
Speaker 2: There is no such thing in the world of botany
Speaker 2: as a weed. Okay. It is not a classification of plant.
Speaker 2: Any plant growing where a human doesn't want it to
Speaker 2: be is a weed. Okay. So weed is a subjective term. Right,
Speaker 2: So we talk about weeds in our yards, But when
Speaker 2: we look on the hillsides around us, in the open spaces,
Speaker 2: they're open grasslands, they're natural grasses. But in our yards,
Speaker 2: that's a weed coming right out of the middle of
Speaker 2: my lawn. So you understand what I'm saying. It's a
Speaker 2: subjective term. Weed is entirely a term, a subjective to
Speaker 2: human perspective of plants not showing up where we are,
Speaker 2: showing up where we don't want them to be. So
Speaker 2: that's weeds. And I said, noise used to be used
Speaker 2: to be a word like weeds. So until recently, fairly
Speaker 2: recently a couple you know, about a fifteen years or so,
Speaker 2: noise was also considered to be something solely defined by
Speaker 2: the ear of the beholder, right. And I've heard this
Speaker 2: my whole life. I've heard folks say, you know, I
Speaker 2: grew up in New York City and urban environment. I
Speaker 2: can't sleep without the sound of traffic in the background.
Speaker 2: I get that. I get some people just love it.
Speaker 2: And when Tina and I go to a place like
Speaker 2: Manhattan or Brooklyn, we love the sounds of the city.
Speaker 2: It's just energizing to be there, to be in it,
Speaker 2: and to be a part of it for a while,
Speaker 2: for a while. And so I understand that, but I
Speaker 2: want everybody to understand this too. The research continues, and
Speaker 2: now noise is no longer considered a subjective thing. It's
Speaker 2: not a it's not simply like weed, a sound that
Speaker 2: you don't want to hear at a certain time. Okay,
Speaker 2: Noise used to be considered you know, what's noise to
Speaker 2: one person may be music to another. But that is
Speaker 2: no longer the case. A growing body of research on
Speaker 2: the harmful effects of noise pollution on human health has
Speaker 2: actually led the American Public Health Association in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: i'd said these were recent changes to change the definition
Speaker 2: of noise from used to be unwanted sound that's entirely subjective.
Speaker 2: Now we haven't eliminated that part. It's unwanted and or
Speaker 2: harmful sound. And that's because our new understanding of noise
Speaker 2: also reaches far beyond loud sounds causing hearing damage. Chronic noise,
Speaker 2: even at very low levels, can cause psychological stress, sleep disruption.
Speaker 2: It contributes this is now proven to cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease,
Speaker 2: metabolic disturbances, exacerbation of psychological disorders, and premature mortality. Premature death.
Speaker 2: Noise interferes with cognition and learning, and it contributes to
Speaker 2: behavior problems and reduces achievement and productivity in adults and children. Right,
Speaker 2: and so now we have a different perspective on noise.
Speaker 2: There is such a thing as noise, and noise is
Speaker 2: stress period physical psychological stress. And now the question is
Speaker 2: how do we fill our lives with sound but not noise.
Speaker 2: The idea of a noiseless place, it's been embedded in
Speaker 2: our vernacular. We know this. It's like we say Oh,
Speaker 2: I just want to live on a house on a
Speaker 2: quiet tree line street. There's only so much we can
Speaker 2: do to protect ourselves from noise pollution in public, but
Speaker 2: that need not be the case when we're at home.
Speaker 2: And so that is the basis of where we go
Speaker 2: from here, and we will continue.
Speaker 3: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 3: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: Dean Sharp, the house whisper here for you at your service.
Speaker 2: We're going to be going to the phones in just
Speaker 2: a couple of bits. So here's the number to reach me,
Speaker 2: eight three three two Ask Dean eight three three the
Speaker 2: numeral to ask Dean. Producer Matt Toffler standing by to
Speaker 2: take your call, tell you everything you need to do,
Speaker 2: and you can listen to the show while you are
Speaker 2: in the queue. All right, let's return to our conversation
Speaker 2: about getting control of sound now. I said, today's episode
Speaker 2: is not entitled sound proofing because getting control of sound
Speaker 2: is more than that, and it's also not ultimately soundproofing,
Speaker 2: but just changing the way that sound comes in and
Speaker 2: through our homes and our property. But nevertheless, we are
Speaker 2: going to start with techniques of soundproofing because if we
Speaker 2: want to lower noise pollution and the way that it
Speaker 2: enters our home. Then we've got to talk about techniques
Speaker 2: of soundproofing. First thing you need to know, the biggest,
Speaker 2: most important thing you need to know. Don't call me
Speaker 2: or email me and say, hey, Dean, what's the one
Speaker 2: thing I need to do to sound prove my house,
Speaker 2: because there is not one single thing that we can do.
Speaker 2: Maybe in the future, maybe maybe in the future, somebody
Speaker 2: will figure out the one thing that you can do,
Speaker 2: some new technology that doesn't currently exist. But the fact
Speaker 2: of the matter is right here in this early part
Speaker 2: of the twenty first century. Soundproofing is a layering game.
Speaker 2: It is a piece of layer after layer after layer,
Speaker 2: like you know, like peeling an onion. We've got to
Speaker 2: add this, that and the other thing in order to
Speaker 2: achieve soundproofing. I'll give you an example of the studio
Speaker 2: that I'm sitting in right now. The studio is first
Speaker 2: built out of double wall construction, two walls fully insulated
Speaker 2: with an air gap in between them, and then on
Speaker 2: top of that, there's a layer of one or two
Speaker 2: layers of sound sound reducing dry wall set on resilient
Speaker 2: channels to isolate the vibration as they come through. Even
Speaker 2: the glass itself as we look out from one area
Speaker 2: of the studio to the next, is double paned, double
Speaker 2: layered glass, and so on and so forth, and so
Speaker 2: you see, it's a layering effect in order to achieve soundproofing.
Speaker 2: And again sound proofing not exactly what we're after. Sound reduction,
Speaker 2: noise reduction more specifically, so first step insulation. Of course,
Speaker 2: there's no better way to take the first hit out
Speaker 2: of sound that's entering your home than to look at
Speaker 2: the envelope of your home. And by envelope I mean
Speaker 2: the roofline and the exterior walls, and that includes windows
Speaker 2: and doors. We want insulating to be our first I
Speaker 2: guess layer of attack, okay, or first layer of defense. Insulation.
Speaker 2: Insulation is essentially, in terms of sound, about putting levels
Speaker 2: of mass, mass, just stuff, thickness of stuff that inhibit
Speaker 2: an energy wave passing through them. And let's be real clear,
Speaker 2: this is an energy game. Sound is energy. It's energy
Speaker 2: that's moving through a medium. It moves through through air,
Speaker 2: it moves through the air around us. It is an
Speaker 2: energy wave. And the best way to imagine it when
Speaker 2: I say wave, is like waves that you see on
Speaker 2: the ocean, or better yet, maybe waves that you see
Speaker 2: on a you know, on a lake. When you throw
Speaker 2: a rock into a lake and you see those rings
Speaker 2: of waveform around the rock, that is very, very much
Speaker 2: indicative of how sound travels through the air. Of course,
Speaker 2: it's invisible when it travels through the air. We don't
Speaker 2: see the air rippling around us, but it is nevertheless
Speaker 2: what's happening. That's energy traveling through a medium. Okay, So
Speaker 2: insulation is about taking mass and forcing that energy to
Speaker 2: pass through mass, and as it does, it's weakened. Some
Speaker 2: of it is dampened, some of it is absorbed, some
Speaker 2: of it is deflected and diffused. And so the more
Speaker 2: insulation the better. When it comes to insulation in the
Speaker 2: outside walls of your house, if you are doing a
Speaker 2: major remodel or you're deciding to upgrade or change, I'll
Speaker 2: tell you right now, old fiberglass insulation is not the
Speaker 2: best or sound proofing a house. Now. Having it there
Speaker 2: as opposed to hollow walls way way better than nothing.
Speaker 2: But if we are talking about optimal, we want more mass.
Speaker 2: We want thicker insulation, and I don't mean thicker in
Speaker 2: terms of depth. I just mean more dense, more density
Speaker 2: of insulation. So optimal right now would be either open
Speaker 2: cell foam that gets sprayed on. That's something that a
Speaker 2: lot of people don't have in their budget to pay for,
Speaker 2: or as far as putting bats in outside exterior walls.
Speaker 2: In between the studs bat insulation, we recommend it always
Speaker 2: go for either mineral wool or some form of denim.
Speaker 2: But on exterior walls, I usually do mineral wool. And yes,
Speaker 2: by fiberglass insulation can have the same r value as
Speaker 2: far as heat and cold energy thermal energy, but mineral
Speaker 2: wool is so much more dense in its structure it
Speaker 2: always has a better sound energy insulating value. So mineral
Speaker 2: wool what used to be called rock wool, I think
Speaker 2: it's still I don't know if they've changed their name
Speaker 2: from rozel to rock wool or from rock wool to roxel. Anyway,
Speaker 2: we're looking for mineral wool insulation. The other nice thing
Speaker 2: about mineral wool insulation is that it's better in terms
Speaker 2: than fiberglass in terms of pests, it's better in terms
Speaker 2: of moisture. It's just better insulation in my opinion, So
Speaker 2: mineral wool in the walls or denim shredded denim insulation
Speaker 2: excellent for sound control, and definitely denim is an option
Speaker 2: inside the house internal walls. And that's the other thing
Speaker 2: that I want to say and stress to you when
Speaker 2: it comes to insulating a house. There's only so much,
Speaker 2: like I said, that you can do to insulate from
Speaker 2: sound the exterior walls, right, And of course there are
Speaker 2: rooms in your home, important rooms that have a an
Speaker 2: exposure to an exterior wall, but the rest of the
Speaker 2: sound that's happening inside your house has to travel through
Speaker 2: interior walls to get to that room. And so I
Speaker 2: always recommend it's just a few dollars more, honestly, just
Speaker 2: and I'm not exaggerating, it's just a few dollars more
Speaker 2: in your remodeling budget. Any new wall that you build
Speaker 2: inside your house, interior wall, any new wall insulated with
Speaker 2: don't worry about thermal insulation, insulated with sound rated insulation.
Speaker 2: And the makers of mineral wool insulation not only make
Speaker 2: the thermal insulation for the exterior envelope, but they make
Speaker 2: well I'm thinking of like safe and sound that's literally
Speaker 2: a brand name of mineral wool insulation. It doesn't have
Speaker 2: a They don't worry about it being highest rated thermal
Speaker 2: insulation because it's for interior walls, but it has fantastic
Speaker 2: sound insulation qualities for interior walls, because if sound had
Speaker 2: in the smaller the home, the more important this is.
Speaker 2: And I'll tell you I live in a small home.
Speaker 2: So the fact that when I'm back in my bedroom
Speaker 2: and the reality is my living room, my family room,
Speaker 2: where the party could be happening, is is literally, as
Speaker 2: the crow flies, you know, less than fifty feet away
Speaker 2: from from you know, the primary suite. The fact of
Speaker 2: the matter is that every wall in between my bedroom
Speaker 2: and the family room has interior insulation in it. And
Speaker 2: by the time I'm back in my bedroom, you know,
Speaker 2: the family room might as well be, you know, quite
Speaker 2: a ways away, further than it is because it's quiet.
Speaker 2: So layer by layer, hit by hit, this is a
Speaker 2: game of layers, and I can't stress that enough. All right,
Speaker 2: we will continue, but right now.
Speaker 3: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 3: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: Welcome home. Thanks for joining us on the program. It
Speaker 2: truly is a privilege to spend time with you on
Speaker 2: the weekends on a Sunday morning, the first Sunday of
Speaker 2: summer twenty twenty five. And to think that you have
Speaker 2: allowed us into your home, that you've allowed me a
Speaker 2: voice in your life on such an important day. I
Speaker 2: know how important the weekends are to you. I just
Speaker 2: want to thank you for that and tell you that
Speaker 2: I have no intention of abusing that gift whatsoever. I
Speaker 2: want to take full advantage. I want to show up.
Speaker 2: I want to earn my keep, all right, And today
Speaker 2: we are doing that by way of having a conversation
Speaker 2: about controlling sound. Hopefully the sound you're hearing coming out
Speaker 2: of my voice is not the sound that you want
Speaker 2: out of your house. Easy enough, just to just, you know,
Speaker 2: pick up your smart device or walk over the radio
Speaker 2: and just turn off the power. See problem solved. I've
Speaker 2: already given you quality advice. But as far as the
Speaker 2: rest of the stuff is concerned, we're trying to figure
Speaker 2: out how to control sounds, specifically noise as it rolls
Speaker 2: into our lives. We got to cut that down because
Speaker 2: we have now learned that noise is not a subjective thing.
Speaker 2: It's not one person prefers it. Oh, you know, this
Speaker 2: sound is a noise to them, and to another person,
Speaker 2: it's sweet, sweet music. There is such a thing and
Speaker 2: this is driven I think by evolutionary biology. There is
Speaker 2: such a thing as noise and objective reality when it
Speaker 2: comes to the way a human brain, uh and human
Speaker 2: emotions perceive sound. There is such a thing as noise,
Speaker 2: and it is noise that does damage to us. And
Speaker 2: it's noise that we want to reduce, chain mask, convert,
Speaker 2: and so on. And when it comes to our home,
Speaker 2: we've got better control over that than we do out
Speaker 2: in public. Obviously, in public, you know, you pop in
Speaker 2: your noise canceling headphones and do your best. But at home,
Speaker 2: you're in charge. You're in control. That's why we're having
Speaker 2: that conversation. Also coming up just by the way, right
Speaker 2: after the next break, we are going to the phones.
Speaker 2: It is time top of the ten o'clock hour. And
Speaker 2: so in case you haven't given me a call yet,
Speaker 2: the number to reach me eight three three two. Ask
Speaker 2: dean A three three the numeral two, then you just
Speaker 2: spell out ask dean. Okay, we're talking soundproofing at the moment.
Speaker 2: I've talked to you about insulation. Okay. Insulation is adding
Speaker 2: mass to a wall or to a ceiling line or
Speaker 2: to a roofline in order to make it more difficult
Speaker 2: for the energy that is sound, and sound is energy.
Speaker 2: Don't forget that, because that's the critical part of understanding
Speaker 2: how to deal with it. That it is energy that
Speaker 2: moves through a medium, and the medium being air. Okay,
Speaker 2: And yes, sound moves through all sorts of medium. Sound
Speaker 2: moves faster in water than it does in air. We'll
Speaker 2: have this conversation a little bit further on. Because water
Speaker 2: is a better conductor of energy than air. Did you
Speaker 2: know that? Well, you should know. You do know that.
Speaker 2: You know that if I plug in a toaster right
Speaker 2: next to you and push the buttons down to toast something,
Speaker 2: that you will not get electrocuted. Why because there's energy
Speaker 2: happening all through their electrical energy. But electrical energy just
Speaker 2: jumping across the air over to where you are. No, No,
Speaker 2: not going to happen, So you're free to toast your toast. However, classically,
Speaker 2: the classic movie murder scene, if you're in the bathtub
Speaker 2: filled with water and I drop the toaster into the bathtub,
Speaker 2: then guess what you're going to feel it. Water is
Speaker 2: a better conductor of energy than air. As a result,
Speaker 2: sound travels faster through water than it does through air,
Speaker 2: and just fun fact, fun fact. Okay, I'll get into
Speaker 2: that a little bit more later, hopefully, But air is
Speaker 2: the medium that sound travels through in our normal lives,
Speaker 2: and so shutting down air air ceiling a house is
Speaker 2: a critical factor. No amount of think of your house
Speaker 2: like a boat, and the exterior of your house like
Speaker 2: a boat. No amount of thick hulled walls, super insulated
Speaker 2: walls are going to change the or keep out sound
Speaker 2: if we've opened a window and we're just letting air
Speaker 2: flow inside, because whatever sound is out there is going
Speaker 2: to move through that air and gonna get into you. Okay.
Speaker 2: So airflow is a critical part of getting control of
Speaker 2: sound as well insulation on the walls, and there are
Speaker 2: a number of ways we can do it. We've already
Speaker 2: talked about various types of what you would consider what
Speaker 2: you think of when I say the word insulation, mineral denim, insulation,
Speaker 2: spray foam insulation. By the way, when it comes to
Speaker 2: spray foam, open cell meaning the foamy stuff with lots
Speaker 2: of air pockets in it better than closed cell with
Speaker 2: no air pockets in it. So the big foamy insulation
Speaker 2: better because there's more it takes more for the energy
Speaker 2: to make it through the more dense insulation, which is
Speaker 2: better for thermal reduction. You know, eat and cold energy
Speaker 2: is actually a better bridge of energy across it without
Speaker 2: all the open cells inside. So mass loaded vinyl is
Speaker 2: something that gets discussed a lot. It is a material
Speaker 2: that it's about an eighth of an inch to a
Speaker 2: quarter of an inch thick. It is super heavy. I
Speaker 2: swear if you pick it up you think that you're
Speaker 2: carrying a lead block. That's because there's a tremendous amount
Speaker 2: of material and mass in it. Adding a sheet of
Speaker 2: mass loaded vinyl over a wall can be another significant,
Speaker 2: significant layer. But I want to warn you about the
Speaker 2: fact that mass loaded vinyl it's expensive. Also, the way
Speaker 2: it gets displayed or demonstrated very very effective. But it
Speaker 2: is not the silver bullet that it would appear in
Speaker 2: those YouTube demonstrations that you see. And I'll explain why.
Speaker 2: In fact, I'm going to explain why right on the
Speaker 2: other side of the brake, and then we're going to
Speaker 2: the phone, So don't go anywhere. I will tell you all.
Speaker 2: And maybe during the break you should check out a
Speaker 2: YouTube video on mass loaded vinyl, and then you'll see
Speaker 2: look for one where a guy's got a speaker inside
Speaker 2: a box that's covered in mass loaded vinyl and he's
Speaker 2: just sitting there talking to you, and then he's like, oh,
Speaker 2: and by the way, this speaker is going full blast,
Speaker 2: and he picks up the box and it's blaring, and
Speaker 2: then he puts the box over it and it's silent.
Speaker 2: What's wrong with that in the real world. We'll talk
Speaker 2: about that right on the other side of the break,
Speaker 2: and we're going to the phones. Your Home with Dean Sharp,
Speaker 2: the House Whisperer on KFI. This has been Home with
Speaker 2: Dean Sharp, the House Whisperer. Tune into the live broadcast
Speaker 2: on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from six
Speaker 2: to eight Pacific time and every Sunday morning from nine
Speaker 2: to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app