Speaker 1: K f I A M six forty. You're listening to
Speaker 1: Dean Sharp The House Whisper on demand on the iHeart
Speaker 1: Radio app i AM six forty live streaming and HD
Speaker 1: everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Hey, welcome home. I'm Dean
Speaker 1: Sharp the House Whisper. I design custom homes. I build
Speaker 1: a few custom homes along the way, and I am
Speaker 1: your guide every weekend to better understand that place where
Speaker 1: you live. Today on the show, well this weekend. On
Speaker 1: the show, today's episode and tomorrow's It's an all calls weekend.
Speaker 1: We do this every few weeks. I love all calls weekends.
Speaker 1: Why because you get to set the agenda of what's
Speaker 1: going on the show today. Anything you want to talk
Speaker 1: about regarding your home. I'm going to give you the
Speaker 1: number right now because the phone lines are open and
Speaker 1: it's a Saturday morning, so you can just rub the
Speaker 1: sleepy out of your eyes and give me a call.
Speaker 1: It's light traffic on a Saturday morning, So now is
Speaker 1: your chance the number to reach me. Eight three three two.
Speaker 1: Ask Dean eight three three. The numeral two ask Dean
Speaker 1: eight three three to ask Dean again, anything you want
Speaker 1: to talk about regarding your home construction design DIY. We
Speaker 1: can talk architecture, we can talk high and lofty things,
Speaker 1: we can talk about how to fix your leaky toilet
Speaker 1: and everything in between. Uh, let me introduce our awesome
Speaker 1: team to you. Of course, Sam is on the board
Speaker 1: as always, taking care of everything that's going on, and
Speaker 1: he's got his hands full this morning, so I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna bug him right now. Producer Richie nowhere near a
Speaker 1: microphone at the moment, but standing by ready to take
Speaker 1: your calls. He's just opened up the phone boards again
Speaker 1: eight three three two. Ask Dean is the number to
Speaker 1: reach me and my buddy Eileen Gonzalez at the news desk.
Speaker 1: Good morning, Eileen, Good morning sunshine. How's it going. You
Speaker 1: sound nice and perky this morning. Well, thank you. That's
Speaker 1: all just a lie. It's a lie. Take it till
Speaker 1: you make it, Take it till that coffee kicks in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what flavor of tea are we sipping this morning today?
Speaker 2: It's a sweet and spicy. It's actually decaff right now.
Speaker 2: I'll move to caffeinated in just a minute. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a nice sweet, naturally sweet blend of Rebos and
Speaker 2: who knows what else.
Speaker 1: Clothes Oh my gosh. Eileen is our resident tea expert,
Speaker 1: so I always just have to check in and find
Speaker 1: out what's going on with the tea. Sitting across the
Speaker 1: table from me, my better half, my design partner, my
Speaker 1: best buddy in all the world, Tina is also here,
Speaker 1: Welcome home, Good morning to you, Good morning, And Sammy's here,
Speaker 1: and Sammy the beagle is also here. Sammy will probably
Speaker 1: not be screaming like he was a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 1: because Sammy had a pinched nerve in his neck that
Speaker 1: was hurting him really bad. But we're past that now.
Speaker 1: He's very calm, well as calm as a beagle can get,
Speaker 1: and he looks to be quite content and happy this morning.
Speaker 1: All right, y'all, listen, it is an all calls weekend.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna be jabbering about a few odds and
Speaker 1: ends until the phone begins ringing. So eight three three two,
Speaker 1: ask Dean A three three the numeral two, Ask Dean,
Speaker 1: that's the number to call, and it all gets started.
Speaker 1: Can't hi, Dean sharp the house whisper? Hey, Whether your
Speaker 1: home is a condo, a cottage, or a castle, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. I am here to help you take it
Speaker 1: to the next level. And guess what we're doing helping
Speaker 1: you take your home to the next level this weekend.
Speaker 1: It is an all calls weekend. We have just thrown
Speaker 1: open all the phone lines. We've got a couple of
Speaker 1: calls right now. I'm going to turn to them in
Speaker 1: just a second. But the number to reach me. We've
Speaker 1: got so much room for you. Really, this is the
Speaker 1: advantage of being an early riser on a Saturday morning,
Speaker 1: or the advantage of living further east than California. Because
Speaker 1: for you, you're already up. So give me a call eight
Speaker 1: three three two Ask Dean eight three three. The numeral
Speaker 1: two ask Dean eight three three to ask Dean. It's
Speaker 1: just that simple, all right. I'm gonna finish out my
Speaker 1: thought as promised about this hidden barn door, and I'm
Speaker 1: using my famous air quotes with the word barn door.
Speaker 1: You should check it out. If you go online and
Speaker 1: just search for sliding barn door a trackless, I'm sure
Speaker 1: you will run across at least one or two videos
Speaker 1: demonstrating it. But it is a wonderful innovation. It's a
Speaker 1: great piece of hardware. Tina and I checked it out thoroughly.
Speaker 1: And what we're talking about is the concept of a
Speaker 1: barn door, which of course you know is you know,
Speaker 1: they've been so popular and now they have started to
Speaker 1: fall out of favor for exactly the reason that I'm describing.
Speaker 1: Because when the barn doors first came out, they're like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, how a door? But is that you
Speaker 1: can just put this rustic little door and it's hanging
Speaker 1: on an exposed track. You normally we use a barn
Speaker 1: door where we can't use a pocket door because the
Speaker 1: wall won't accept the door for whatever reason. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: a structural wall, maybe we don't have the room for that,
Speaker 1: and so on the outside of the wall hangs a door.
Speaker 1: And you know, barn doors definitely have their limitations. They
Speaker 1: don't seal a you know, sound very well, and they're
Speaker 1: not lockable per se. But they do provide a certain
Speaker 1: level of sound buffing and privacy and the aesthetic is
Speaker 1: really cool if if you're going for that you know,
Speaker 1: farmy and or industrial look. But that's about where they
Speaker 1: come to an end. And that's when you know everything
Speaker 1: when you know a few years back when everything was
Speaker 1: going you know, farmhouse chic and transitional farmhouse and modern farmhouse.
Speaker 1: Everybody's like, I get myself a barn door, and now,
Speaker 1: you know, not so much of a thing, but because
Speaker 1: of this innovative hardware, now a barn door again, I'm
Speaker 1: just going to say, a trackless sliding door, uh is
Speaker 1: entirely available to any house, any style of house, and
Speaker 1: any motif from ultra custom and modern all the way
Speaker 1: down to the you know, the classic kind of farmy
Speaker 1: barn house look. And so we can take any door,
Speaker 1: a super contemporary, sleek looking door, any period door, and
Speaker 1: simply hang it on this hardware. And now what do
Speaker 1: we have. We just have the door. That's it, just
Speaker 1: the door. That's all you see is the door sliding
Speaker 1: back and forth across the opening. No hardware, no track,
Speaker 1: no you know, hyper industrial look. So somebody asked me
Speaker 1: what I think? Amy asked me yesterday, what do you
Speaker 1: call a barn door that is trackless and where you
Speaker 1: can only see the door in any style used? I
Speaker 1: call it sexy, That's what I call it. So, so
Speaker 1: that's one of the hidden and or flush things on
Speaker 1: my hidden in flush list, And if I need to,
Speaker 1: I will love I'll be peppering that into our program.
Speaker 1: Today in between calls. But right now we've got a
Speaker 1: couple of calls on the board, and so I want
Speaker 1: to get started. Let's get started at least before we
Speaker 1: go to a break with Grace. Hey, Grace, welcome home.
Speaker 3: Hi, this is Grace. Good morning, Dean.
Speaker 1: Good morning, Grace. How you doing this fine morning?
Speaker 3: I'm doing actually very well. But let me get to
Speaker 3: my question. I have one hundred year old home with
Speaker 3: window units. I want to go to a new system,
Speaker 3: but I'm not sure which way to go with the HVAC.
Speaker 3: Are the mini splits leading towards the mini split? But
Speaker 3: I would like to know kind of your opinion and
Speaker 3: are they really more cost efficient later on?
Speaker 1: Okay, that's a really good question. So tell me a
Speaker 1: little bit more about your house, Grace, hundred years old?
Speaker 1: Are you here in southern California? Are you elsewhere? Are
Speaker 1: we one story around?
Speaker 3: I am in? I am in southern California and it
Speaker 3: is a single story it's a single story house.
Speaker 1: And what style of home is it?
Speaker 3: It's almost like I would say, between a tutor and
Speaker 3: a craftsman.
Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, cool, cool, great, great, So here is the
Speaker 1: thing with you? And by the way, do you happen
Speaker 1: to have an old gravity furnace basement area underneath the house, which.
Speaker 3: Is saying, no, we don't. Actually we have wall on
Speaker 3: the wall heater. But I have a basement.
Speaker 1: In my garage, a basement in your garage. Yes, that's
Speaker 1: a unique setup. Okay, all right, So here's the thing, Grace, Well,
Speaker 1: here's the thing. I just looked at the clock, and
Speaker 1: it's time for me to take a quick break. So
Speaker 1: i am gonna leave everybody hanging, and I'm gonna pop
Speaker 1: you on hold, and I'm gonna take a thorough answer
Speaker 1: to your question as soon as we come back. So
Speaker 1: can you hang tight?
Speaker 3: By can? Thank you very much?
Speaker 1: Awesome? You hang tight, Grace. And we're going to answer
Speaker 1: a question that is becoming more and more important to
Speaker 1: Southern Californians as Southern California homes continue to age in place,
Speaker 1: and that is what do you do with one hundred
Speaker 1: year old home? If you want to put HVAC in it?
Speaker 1: What options are available to you. We'll talk about all
Speaker 1: of that, plus more of your calls when we return.
Speaker 1: You are Home with Dean Sharp the house whisper. You're
Speaker 1: listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI
Speaker 1: AM six forty. I am fine. I am forty. Live
Speaker 1: streaming in HD everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Dean Sharp,
Speaker 1: the house Whisperer, with you here on this lovely sun
Speaker 1: isn't even up yet Saturday morning. Thank you, Daylight Savings time.
Speaker 1: Not a big fan. I'm not a huge fan of
Speaker 1: daylight savings. I really am not. But you know, I
Speaker 1: don't mind. I'm up when I'm up. We're over it now,
Speaker 1: so I'm not going to whine and complain anymore than
Speaker 1: I just did. It is an all calls weekend. So
Speaker 1: if you are up with me right now here on
Speaker 1: the West Coast in southern California or anywhere across our
Speaker 1: great nation. And if you're not on the West Coast,
Speaker 1: I hope you're up by now, you lazy bones. So
Speaker 1: give me a call. Anything you want to talk about
Speaker 1: regarding your home. It's a free flowing, free wheeling any
Speaker 1: subject you want, Saturday morning, today and tomorrow both. The
Speaker 1: number to reach me right now eight three three two.
Speaker 1: Ask Dean eight three three The numeral to ask Dean.
Speaker 1: We've got room for you on the callboard. Eight three
Speaker 1: three two. Ask Dean anything that's got you scratching your
Speaker 1: head about your home. Now here is a really good one. Grace,
Speaker 1: who I popped on hold right before the break, is
Speaker 1: still with me? Yes, Grace, are you still with me?
Speaker 1: I'm here, okay. So Grace lives here in southern California.
Speaker 1: She's in a kind of craftsman Tutoresque style one hundred
Speaker 1: year old home. We have, you know, more and more
Speaker 1: of those homes all the time, one hundred year old
Speaker 1: homes still though one of the classic eras of construction.
Speaker 1: Here in southern California, Craftsman, Spanish revival, tutor story book
Speaker 1: bungalow style homes. Lot of just beautiful homes. And she's
Speaker 1: running into one of those challenges that many one hundred
Speaker 1: year old homes face, and that is she's got old
Speaker 1: gas wall furnaces. She would love to have a full
Speaker 1: HVAC system in her house, and how do you go
Speaker 1: about doing it? So here is the thing, Grace. Of course,
Speaker 1: I can't tell you exactly what to do regarding your home,
Speaker 1: but I can tell you this, If the integrity of
Speaker 1: the design of your home is of primary concern to you,
Speaker 1: and I hope that it is, I want you to
Speaker 1: take your time, and I want you to source out
Speaker 1: a number of different HVAC contractors and options for how
Speaker 1: this gets done. Now, I know you said the mini
Speaker 1: split system is something that somebody has recommended to you,
Speaker 1: and that is a viable way to get air conditioning
Speaker 1: and heating into a home, and heating included because a
Speaker 1: mini split system, like so many air air conditioning systems
Speaker 1: can have, be a heat pump system that both provides.
Speaker 1: It's basically an air conditioner that also works in reverse.
Speaker 1: So when an air conditioner brings cold air into the house,
Speaker 1: it can reverse itself and bring warm air into a house.
Speaker 1: And you know, for a room or two. Many split
Speaker 1: systems are you know, pretty economical and they're relatively easy
Speaker 1: to install because they don't need ducting in order to transmit.
Speaker 1: They use what we call cassettes. Cassettes are whatever they
Speaker 1: come in ceiling size is now classic. The classic mini
Speaker 1: split cassette is kind of a long rectangular thing that
Speaker 1: gets mounted to the top of a wall and there's
Speaker 1: only a a refrigerant line set in between the unit
Speaker 1: outside and the cassette and meaning small copper piping with
Speaker 1: insulation around them. And so they can pretty much be
Speaker 1: you know, wormed in just about anywhere, in any space,
Speaker 1: and that's what makes them a viable option. However, I
Speaker 1: just want to I want you to know, Grace, that
Speaker 1: there are, quite possibly, inevitably, there are other options. In
Speaker 1: your case, you have a one story home with attic
Speaker 1: space above you. If it was a two story home,
Speaker 1: that would definitely limit possibilities as well. But you've got
Speaker 1: a one story home that is one hundred years old,
Speaker 1: so you've got a crawl space and an attic space.
Speaker 1: You're not sitting just on a slab. You have a
Speaker 1: crawl space under your house, and since it's a single story,
Speaker 1: one hundred year old home, you have attic space, which
Speaker 1: means we've got options. We've got some flexibility. You could,
Speaker 1: in theory, run an entire h FEVAC system, one single
Speaker 1: zone system just with ductwork underneath the house and have
Speaker 1: floor events delivering hot and cold air throughout your house.
Speaker 1: That is one distinct possibility for a system. The mini
Speaker 1: split system is another distinct possibility. And because this is
Speaker 1: something that I am very familiar with, because we get
Speaker 1: called upon to deal with century houses all the time.
Speaker 1: From a design perspective, I've got clients who specifically call
Speaker 1: us and saying, all right, I know how important design
Speaker 1: and story preservation is for you, and I know how
Speaker 1: much integrity you approach a project with. So how can
Speaker 1: we update our house and live in it in the
Speaker 1: twenty first century and still maintain this beautiful one hundred
Speaker 1: year old home. And so there is yet a third
Speaker 1: option for you. And it's what's called the Unico System.
Speaker 1: And I want you to write this down because you
Speaker 1: can do some research on it later and anybody who's
Speaker 1: interested in this, it's Unico. Unico is a company that
Speaker 1: has kind of been at the tip of the spear.
Speaker 1: They're not the only one out there doing this, but
Speaker 1: they're the one that is most readily available here on
Speaker 1: the West Coast. Unico Unico. And if you go to
Speaker 1: the Unico System website, you can put in your name
Speaker 1: and address and get a list of HVAC contractors who
Speaker 1: are familiar with it. And what the unicosystem is is
Speaker 1: also a central heating and air conditioning system that uses
Speaker 1: what's called high velocity small ducts. So instead of your
Speaker 1: classic you know, six inch, eight inch, twelve inch duct
Speaker 1: work having to find space running through houses and up walls,
Speaker 1: which means opening up walls, which means tearing things up.
Speaker 1: The unicosystem was pretty much exclusively designed to retrofit into
Speaker 1: older homes. I mean century old homes, Victory East Coast,
Speaker 1: Victorian homes, all sorts of problematic systems. Because their ducts
Speaker 1: are only three inches in diameter, they can be fed
Speaker 1: up through walls from the bottom to the top and
Speaker 1: then ducked out into ceilings in incredibly creative ways. It's
Speaker 1: high velocity, meaning that it produces the same heating and
Speaker 1: cooling effects as the large, low velocity ducts, but there's
Speaker 1: no noise. It's super quiet and very very efficient. And
Speaker 1: when design preservation is at the top of your priority list,
Speaker 1: then a unicosystem is one of those things that we
Speaker 1: turn to grace. It's such an important question, and I've
Speaker 1: got a whole other set of comments on this, so
Speaker 1: I will if you can hang tight for one more break.
Speaker 1: I want to just use this as a springboard to
Speaker 1: talk about the idea of how to find the right
Speaker 1: contractors given a difficult job, How to find the right
Speaker 1: contractors and what not to accept and what to accept
Speaker 1: from them along the way. Can you hang tight one
Speaker 1: more time?
Speaker 3: I can sounds great.
Speaker 1: All right, Grace, you hang tight such a pertinent question.
Speaker 1: This is why I love All Calls weekends, because it
Speaker 1: gives me an opportunity to really talk to everybody about
Speaker 1: super relevant important things. When you were trying to get
Speaker 1: stuff done on your home. So we'll get right back
Speaker 1: to it. Hey, Fie Bean sharp to the house, whisper,
Speaker 1: welcome home. Thanks for joining us on the program. The
Speaker 1: sun is coming up. I'm looking out the window and
Speaker 1: I see blue sky outside. Good Saturday morning to you all.
Speaker 1: It is an all Calls weekend. I'm doing nothing but
Speaker 1: taken calls, so long as you know you're calling in
Speaker 1: the number to reach me eight three to three two
Speaker 1: ask Dean A three three the number two. Ask Dean.
Speaker 1: All right, I want to get back to Grace. Grace
Speaker 1: is still with me.
Speaker 3: I'm still here, all right.
Speaker 1: My friend. So, Grace has got a hundred year old
Speaker 1: home here in southern California, single story, one hundred year
Speaker 1: old home, and she, you know, has window air conditioner
Speaker 1: units that she's had to put up with until now,
Speaker 1: and she is ready to move on to something better.
Speaker 1: And somebody had recommended the mini split system, and I'm
Speaker 1: giving her a larger perspective, I hope on what's possible
Speaker 1: for her home, including all the way up to a
Speaker 1: Unico system. So I just wanted to take a couple
Speaker 1: of more minutes, Grace and explain kind of the big
Speaker 1: picture of what you're looking at here. You've got window
Speaker 1: air conditioners. Window air conditioners are noisy, uh they are.
Speaker 1: And the reason they're noisy, by the way, is not
Speaker 1: just because the fan. It's it's not the fan, actually,
Speaker 1: it's the little condenser motor that actually does the air
Speaker 1: conditioning work is right there inside that box that's hanging
Speaker 1: on your window, and there's no sound buffer in between
Speaker 1: it and the room. So that's why window air conditioners
Speaker 1: have that b hum to them, and they're you know,
Speaker 1: they are what they are. Plus they're single room in
Speaker 1: their efficiency, and they fill up a window, which you
Speaker 1: know nobody likes. So for you, I just want to
Speaker 1: be really clear, everything that we're talking about from many
Speaker 1: split on up is an improvement, and the question of
Speaker 1: whether or not it should be a mini split system
Speaker 1: or a central system that's going to be entirely up
Speaker 1: to you as to what works with your budget and
Speaker 1: what works with your life and and just all of
Speaker 1: the things that are most important to you. I just
Speaker 1: want to make sure that you are aware of everything
Speaker 1: out there. And this is that point that I wanted
Speaker 1: to hold you over for so I could talk to
Speaker 1: everybody about this. Windows shopping and estimates are free. So
Speaker 1: when it comes to anything that you are investigating for
Speaker 1: your home, in a remodel, in a renovation, I want
Speaker 1: you to take the time, take time, spend time to
Speaker 1: educate yourself as to every single possible option that's out
Speaker 1: there when it comes to whatever problem it is that
Speaker 1: you are trying to solve. Why because it's free, because
Speaker 1: you're not committing to anything, So at least know what
Speaker 1: your options are so you can make the most intelligent,
Speaker 1: the most informed decision about what's going to work for
Speaker 1: your home. Don't just call a couple of contractors out
Speaker 1: and what they have to tell you is that, well
Speaker 1: that's it, and do your own research, look around, ask questions,
Speaker 1: because unfortunately, unfortunately, there are far too many contractors out
Speaker 1: there in any specialty, in any category of home improvement
Speaker 1: that are what's the right word to say, oh, well,
Speaker 1: they just basically want to sell you on what they
Speaker 1: do and what they do best, and so some of
Speaker 1: them have a wider range of specialty. Others do not.
Speaker 1: It's one of those you've heard the old phrase for
Speaker 1: a person who only owns a hammer, Every problem is
Speaker 1: a nail, right, They just turn every problem into a
Speaker 1: nail because the one tool they have is the hammer.
Speaker 1: So here is the thing, Grace. A mini split system,
Speaker 1: unlike your window air conditioner, will be an improvement because
Speaker 1: you can have an outside unit making the noise, and
Speaker 1: they're very quiet, but they're outside, so the mini split
Speaker 1: system is quiet. You can buy many split systems that
Speaker 1: have multiple cassettes, but that cassette is still going to
Speaker 1: be a one room thing, and it's going to be
Speaker 1: hanging off the wall or up in the ceiling somewhere,
Speaker 1: and it's going to be next to the window air
Speaker 1: conditioning unit. It's going to be the most visible, but
Speaker 1: it won't be in a window, and it won't be noisy,
Speaker 1: and it'll be far more efficient. And so it's a
Speaker 1: vast improvement. Okay, But a well designed central system that
Speaker 1: could be run, for instance, through your crawl space and
Speaker 1: up through your attic will be just as if not
Speaker 1: more efficient, than a mini split system. Have only one
Speaker 1: outside unit and a mini split system. To do your
Speaker 1: whole house, you might have to have more than one
Speaker 1: unit outside. This will have just one outside unit and
Speaker 1: it will look beautiful because you're just gonna have vents
Speaker 1: in your ceiling like everybody else, and or your floor
Speaker 1: like everybody else. And for the most difficult of situations,
Speaker 1: a central system that's a Unico style system, a high
Speaker 1: velocity system. Those systems can get anywhere into any corner,
Speaker 1: any weird situation. And with your home, I'm not even
Speaker 1: sure that you would need that, because you've got the
Speaker 1: crawl space and the attic space to get flexible. What
Speaker 1: you really need is an intelligent, intuitive HVAC contractor who
Speaker 1: is willing to take the time to design a great
Speaker 1: system for you. I believe we could probably get you
Speaker 1: set up with a standard central system with just a
Speaker 1: little bit of creative thought and process. But everything has
Speaker 1: its price, So call out reputable HVAC contractors. Tell them
Speaker 1: that you're well aware of many splits of central systems
Speaker 1: and of the unicosystem, and that you want bids along
Speaker 1: all those lines, and then you'll be able to make
Speaker 1: your choice. How does that sound, Grace.
Speaker 3: That sounds great? You gave me a lot of information,
Speaker 3: so I was actually leaning towards the mini split.
Speaker 1: Now I'm rethinking, well, you you might. You might end
Speaker 1: up leaning toward the mini split for cost or convenience
Speaker 1: or whatever. It doesn't matter to me. I am just
Speaker 1: here to let you know. I want you to know
Speaker 1: all your options before you make a choice. That's all.
Speaker 1: I have been doing this for a very long time,
Speaker 1: and I'm very proud to say that I have never,
Speaker 1: after you know, forty years of giving design advice and
Speaker 1: construction advice to people, I've never had a client come
Speaker 1: back to me and say this. They've never said, Dean,
Speaker 1: why didn't we ever talk about this option. I exhaust
Speaker 1: my clients with options so that they are completely satisfied
Speaker 1: and comfortable making the intelligent choice. But you can only
Speaker 1: do that if you know what all your options are. Grace,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for the call. It is an
Speaker 1: all Calls morning right here on Home with Dean Sharp,
Speaker 1: the House Whisperer on KFI. You're listening to Home with
Speaker 1: Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty