November 2, 2024 • 27 mins
Dean is talking all things fireplaces. Do you need / want one for actual use for heat, or do you want one just for looks? Either way, Dean tackles the details and questions you need to know about how to install, use and care for a fireplace whether it’s a wood burning fireplace or a gas or electric one, the rules in place for fireplaces, (especially in California) and did you know that having one could actually be beneficial for your health? Dean also answers a listener question about adding a small fireplace insert to a room where a real fireplace once existed.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Campi AM sixty live streaming in HD everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app. Hey, welcome to home where Every week we
help you better understand that place where you live. I
am Dean Sharp, the house whisper here with you live
like I am every weekend Saturday morning, six to eight
(00:29):
Pacific time, Sunday mornings nine to noon Pacific time. I'm
giving you some advice on your fireplace today. Advice on
your fireplace. We're going to get back to that in
just a bit, but it's time to go to the phones.
But before then, my better half, my in studio partner here, Tina,
(00:49):
has something to say.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Welcome home.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Was that it good?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
We did a video this morning on the fireplace with
four tips to make a gas fireplace extra special?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
And where is this video found? Now?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
You can find this video on our Facebook, Instagram, TikTok
and X two.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Don't say that such demeaning ownes so all of our
social media and our handle is home with Dean, Home
with Dean, So so yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Like share, have fun with it. It's really cool.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, just a quick little video about four secrets to
making a gas fireplace really pop, really come to life.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
There you go. All right, thank you, you're so welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Now back to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Oh my goodness taking over. All right, We're going to
return to that conversation on fireplaces in just a bit.
But like I said, I want to go to the phones.
Let's take a call. Let's talk to Pamela. Pamela, welcome home.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Good morning, Dean. I love your show. I have a
quick question.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
What do you think of those electric fireplace inserts and
how high off the ground should it be?
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well? Inserts into what?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Into a fireplace that I took. I took a right
doing a kitchen remodel, a house remodel.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I took out a fireplace and created a pantry, but
I left about twelve inches for electrical fireplace insert one
of those fake ones.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Mm hm.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So I just want to know what your thoughts were
and how high off the ground should I create? Like
one brick right now, it's a brick facade, and I
took out the heart because I'm putting tile down right,
And I wanted to know should I go up one
brick off the ground? Should I leave it flush with
(02:57):
the ground, and is there anything I should look for
for electrical in the fireplace?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Okay, yeah, yeah, so okay, so a couple of things. One,
you know, electric fireplaces are the thing I'm going to
tell you right now is shop it, and shop it
and shop it some more, and and go and see
at your local fireplace purveyor any fireplace shop within driving
(03:30):
distance of you see it ahead of time. Because electric fireplace,
of course, they're not fireplaces. They are simulations. And so
the way those simulations are achieved some far far better
than others. And and I would say most of them,
(03:50):
most of them don't clear the bar in my mind
of what I would want to do. But there there are,
you know, a couple three out there that are like, hey,
you know what, that's kind of cool. That kind of
works and gives it, you know, enough of the effect.
So just be really persnickety and picky when it comes
to that if you really wanted to go all out
(04:14):
for I mean, here's the thing. There's two kinds of
electric fireplace. One is you know, I'm not going to
recommend it to you just because of its cost prohibitive nature,
but it's one that uses and I don't think it
would fit into a smaller space like that anyway. But
it's one that actually uses a real video screen, not
(04:38):
mounted like you would think that you're staring at straight away,
but mounted up inside. And then there's an angled piece
of glass and it's what we call the Pepper's ghost effect,
and you actually get that the real flames, a video
of real flames superimposed onto a log set. It looks
about as realistic as anything possible could when it's just
(05:01):
a plug in fireplace. It's the same effect that they
use at the Hanta Mansion at Disneyland when you see
the ghosts dancing around in the Dyning room, what they
call Pepper's ghosts. So that flame overlaid onto it. Amazing
but very expensive. Now second to that, and this is
a more realistic would be like an optimist Optimist fireplace
(05:24):
which actually uses a small reservoir of water and creates
a vapor okay that is backlit by led lights that
look incredibly realistic flame wise, because it is a natural flow,
but it's it's water vapor, and no, it doesn't get
(05:45):
everything wet around it. It's very you know, it's really
fine particulated water vapor. But check that out look that
up online optimists, and those come in various sizes, including
small enough to fit in what you're talking about. So anyway,
that's the actual My recommendation is are super realism when
it comes to that. I don't think you can do
better than those two things, but I would say the
(06:05):
optimist works probably best in your situation. The other thing
is as far as position. Now that you're free to
do whatever you want to do, the big question is
what's the best viewing angle? And so a sight unseen
for me in the room, I can't make that decision
for you, but I'll tell you this. If you're starting
from scratch again and you're free to put it wherever
you want to put it, then consider where you will
(06:28):
be in the room, what you will be doing, what
you will be looking over, in order to actually see
the fireplace effect. And that's why, quite often, I would
say more than fifty percent of the time, when we're
redoing a fireplace, we will often put the new one
is in elevated up, even in a living room, elevated
up off the floor, so that it can be seen
(06:50):
over the coffee table and take in that and the
TV that you're watching at the same time or in
a bedroom, especially in a bedroom. Fireplaces around the floor
in a bedroom are useless to you when you're in
bed because you can't see them because you're in bed.
But if you raise them up thirty inches or so,
(07:11):
then they're viewable. And in a kitchen as well, if
you're going to be enjoying it from the kid, just
consider sight lines and then place the fireplace in its
optimal viewing positions so that you get the most out
of the work that you do.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Okay, great, Can I ask you one quick question? Like
I said, I'm on a kitchen remodel a house remodel,
and I am trying to decide an island if I
should go curve or straight.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
For an island.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
For an island, it is going to be kind of
a angled.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
It's at a forty five from it's not straight.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
I don't have My kitchen is skinny, so I have
to position it kind of awkwardly, so I don't know
whether I should keep the island edge straight or curved
where the CD.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Is well, I'll tell you this that if if we're
talking about if you're talking about the countertop, not the cabinets,
then then then I would be I would free you
to do whatever you think visually and spatially works. Sometimes
that curve can really create flow around it that a
(08:23):
rectangular countertop you know, won't create. Just make sure it's
not getting in the way of anything. If you're going
to curve the cabinets, I would say, don't do that
because it's going to be way too expensive. They can
it could be done, but you don't want to waste
the money of doing that. But curving that upper the
upper counter where people are sitting, you'll not only will
you get more counter space if it works and you
(08:45):
really like that idea, you'll get more counter space, it
sounds like you also get a better flow with it
as well. That again, of course sight unseen. But that's
my best encouragement. I want to I always want to
encourage you guys to reach out, stretch out, and do
bold design and just double and triple check to make
(09:06):
sure that you're not taking it somewhere that you don't
want it to go. Pamela, thank you so much for
the call and for the question. Appreciate you and thanks
for listening to the show. All right, y'all, when we
come back, let's talk more about these fireplaces of ours.
We will do it. Hey, Fie, team Sharp the house Whisper,
thanks for joining us on the program. This morning been
(09:28):
a little bit of an odd morning. We got a
late start simply because of some technical difficulties. So much
I want to tell you about fireplaces. Let's dive back
into that topic here. We've turned the corner into November.
Time to start thinking warm and cozy. But here's the thing.
You live in southern California. You live in the state
of California, and you may or may not know that California,
(09:54):
as far as new construction or major remodels, no new
wood burning fire places, right unless with one exception. There
is one exception, and it's a good one. It's a
good exception that would be in most areas, you can
get by with a wood burning a wood stove or
pellet stove, a pellet stove specifically, now a pellet stove
(10:19):
that's not for cooking food, per se, but it is
a kind of wood burning fireplace that's super efficient, all
enclosed but lovely, and you end up getting this, you know,
it's like a Franklin stove. It's like a pot belly
kind of a stove situation, that type of fireplace sitting
out in a room, which I think is immensely beautiful
(10:42):
and very very efficient and can work with a lot
of classic decor and style as we go. So just
know that. But otherwise, no new word burning fireplace. And
now if you've got a wood burning fireplace, which a
lot of people misunderstand, you know, so let me just clarify.
You may have a masonry fireplace that has a gas
(11:04):
log set sitting in it and has never seen a
piece of wood in its entire life. And I've had,
you know, I've pointed this out to a client. I'm like, oh,
you got a wood burning fireplace?
Speaker 4 (11:13):
That are right?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
No, No, no, it's gas. It's gas. That's not what
I mean. Okay, h A wood burning fireplace is a
fireplace that was constructed in order to burn wood. Now,
if you don't want to burn wood in that fireplace
and instead you've got a gas line running into it,
either originally to actually for the log lighter for the
(11:36):
wood and now converted into a gas log set, that's great,
that's fantastic, all right, But it still remains a wood
burning fireplace. It's still capable of doing that. When it
comes to prefabricated fireplaces, as we were mentioning before, there
are both gas and wood burning prefabricated fireplaces. Don't assume
(11:59):
just because you've got a gas log set sitting in
there that it can't burn wood. Now, some of them can't,
some of the prefabricateds can't. So the question is how
do we know, Dean, Well, chances are ninety nine percent
if you've got a masonry fireplace or real masonry fireplaces,
it's capable of burning wood. Excuse me, when it comes
(12:22):
to the prefabricated fireplace and you're not sure, don't just
take out that gas set and put in logs, but
call a fireplace company and talk to them about it.
Have a chimney sweep service come out and take a
look at it, analyze it, and they'll be able to
tell you, sorry, I have a little bug in my throat.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Here.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Time for a sip of the coffee. All right. The
fireplace that is acceptable to put in brand new in California,
in the entire state of California, still gas burning what
we can call a direct vent fireplace. And this is
something that a lot of people are not familiar with
and don't understand or just assume is a kind of
(13:10):
decorative thing but doesn't really put out heat or help
the home at all. These things are not true. And
even though eight years ago, I can't believe it's been
that long since we started the show. Eight years ago,
I used to pooh pooh the direct vents because honestly,
they just weren't up to snuff. As far as real
(13:31):
features in a room, that has changed, and I'll tell
you all about it. You're listening to Home with Dean
Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty, KFI AM
sixty live streaming at HD everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
You have found yourself Home with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper.
(13:55):
Thanks for joining us on the program this morning. So
glad that you are with us. We're talking about fireplaces.
I'm giving you pearls of wisdom about this thing that
has been so iconically central in homes since homes first existed.
In fact, we could make the argument and we would
be correct that fireplaces pre date homes as far as
(14:18):
human dwellings. The discovery of fire, the utilization of fire
that started out as the tribal fire and then became
the source of cooking and gathering and storytelling and eventually
made its way from just outside your little hut to
(14:39):
inside your hut and then literally, for tens of thousands
of years, became the very center of what it means
to have a home. Still these days, we no longer
depend on modern homes on fireplaces to heat our homes everywhere,
in every room, unless you know, I've got a traditional
(15:01):
cabin or something like that going on. But the modern
home has gone past the need for a fireplace if
you don't want a fireplace, And yet most of the
US still have a fireplace in our home. And what
are we going to do with it? And that's what
I'm trying to help you with this morning. Okay. So
I was saying before the break that in the state
(15:23):
of California, and it's not going to be long before
this is, you know, all across our great nation, in
one form or another, wood burning fireplace is because of
what they do and because of smoke and all of
these issues. In California, not a thing that you can
put in a new home or a major remodel. And
(15:45):
also just the standard gas log prefabricated fireplace that I
was telling you about also not a thing that can
happen in California. So if you live in California like
we do, what are your options? Your options are the
direct vent fireplace, a much maligned, partially for its own fault,
(16:10):
and much misunderstood fireplace. So a couple of myths when
it comes to direct vent fireplaces. One is that they
don't burn gas, that they're electric. Not true. These are
gas burning fireplace gas real flames. Okay when they say
when people say, oh, it's not real, well it's as
(16:32):
real as your gas log fireplace that's sitting in your
traditional firebox. So real flames, real flame effect, all of
that eighteen hundred kelvin psychological effects because you've got a
real flame going on there. So not true. These are
gas burning fireplaces. Secondly, another myth is that they don't
(16:53):
put out any heat. Absolutely not true. The fact is
direct vent fireplaces are fall are more heat efficient than
traditional fireplace. Is way way more heat efficient a wood fireplace,
traditional wood fireplace as far as energy efficiency, and that
means the amount of fuel that's being consumed and the
(17:16):
heat that's being produced there getting into the room ten percent, Yeah,
massively inefficient. Most of that heat is going up the
chimney right out of the house. Okay, gas fireplaces in
a traditional fireplace setting, if you put a gas log
set in with ceramic, good ceramic logs, that's a vast
improvement that gets you up to about fifty percent efficiency
(17:39):
for fuel versus your heating ability. But a direct vent fireplace,
because it's a sealed, enclosed, engineered system, ninety percent plus
efficiency on most direct vent fireplaces. And so yes, there's
a glass front on a direct vent fireplace, but that
creates a heat chamber inside that then radiates through that
(18:03):
glass into the room. Most direct vent fireplaces blow traditional
fireplaces away as far as their cozy heating factor. In fact,
many of them are designed in such a way that
there are additional fans and venting that gives you the
option of not having too much heat going into the room,
so we blow that heat off up the chimney and
(18:27):
or out other vents that are controlled and dampered, so
you can control how much heat is coming into the
room and how much of it is actually coming out
of the firebox itself directly. So a total myth that
direct vent fireplates don't provide sufficient heat for a room.
Most of them provide a lot of it, more than
(18:47):
a traditional and then only this is the last myth,
maybe the most important one to blow up, is that
they only come in these ultra modern long linear flame
with a mirror background and fire glass at the bottom
and fancy lights, and that's the only kind you can get.
And that used to be the case. But it's been
(19:09):
a long time since that has not been the case.
They have improved massively. Like I said before the break,
you know, I when when California made the law saying, hey,
we can only put in direct vent fireplaces, I was
sad and dismayed, not from the concept behind it, but
(19:29):
just the fact that that I hate it when when
bureaucracy stepped forward with a thing when the technology isn't
there to actually accommodate it, and they then direct vent
fireplaces back then just weren't there. They were just not good,
mediocre at best. But nowadays, nowadays, I'm happy to put
(19:50):
them in. Now, you got to understand, there's still a
lot of mediocre ones out there, a lot of them
out there, okay, that are just like you know, and
still charging you a lot of money for them. So
you gotta shop this carefully. You got to really scrutinize them.
Don't just look at the photo of the flame that
(20:12):
they've show you on their catalog pages, because those things
aren't accurate at all. You want to see video of
these fireplaces grunning, and ideally you want to get somewhere
where you can see it firsthand for yourself. Okay, but
they have improved massively. You don't have to have the
long linear ones, although these are super cool. By the way,
(20:34):
if you do have a contemporary vibe. We can now
put in a fireplace in a home or anywhere, a
linear fireplace that can be anywhere from twenty four inches
long to twenty four feet long. I mean, it's amazing
what we can do with these fireplaces. But what about
the traditional look. Well, one of the big problems before
(20:56):
was the fact that the flames were low and they
were just sitt there at the bottom, and the log
sets look very plastic. Not Now there are some great
brands out there. I want to check out Flair. Go
to Flare, Okay, one of my favorite directvent manufacturers right now. Flair.
I think I don't know if it's Flairfireplace dot com
or just Flare, but look that up. Flare fireplaces, and
(21:19):
look for the gas log set in which the gas
lines are actually run inside the logs and the flames
emit from the log So talk about uber hyper realistic,
more realistic than your gas log set that's sitting in
your traditional one where the gases the flames are coming
out from the bottom and just lick around the logs. No,
(21:41):
these logs are quote unquote on fire and that allows
the flame to be lifted up in the firebox and
for a beautiful, beautiful presentation. And this is the way
of things. But you got to shop it carefully and
find the right ones.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
All right.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I've got a few more thoughts for you. Don't go
anywhere more on your place. When we return your home
with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper. Can't buy Sharp the
house Whisper. Welcome home. Here we are at the end
of another two hours together. Can't believe it goes by
so quickly, right, Ugh, I hope you've got a great
(22:17):
day planned. It's going to be a beautiful day here
in southern California. I hope it's lovely wherever you are
in this great nation of ours. Just to remind you
a couple of things. Number one Tomorrow Tomorrow, the big show.
From nine to noon, we're gonna be talking about decoor
details in your house, details that matter, how much details matter.
(22:39):
And this is great for everybody. Why because you know
what they do matter and sometimes they make all the
difference in the world. And the cool thing about details
mattering so much is that they usually don't cost that much,
So if you do them right, you can get a
big bang for a little buck along the way. So
that's tomorrow's show. Don't miss it. Details that Matter from
(23:02):
nine to noon, live right here tomorrow. Also, just to
remind you, we've got a video that made this morning.
Just threw it up onto our social media. It's there
for those of those of you who follow us on
social media, and if you don't, you should go do
it right now anywhere well, Instagram, Facebook, x, TikTok it's
(23:23):
on all of them. Home with Dean. While you're there,
follow us, share the video. It's fun. It's four secrets
the house whispers. Four secrets to a great gas log fireplace,
and that, of course, is what we've been talking about
this morning. One last reminder to you, set the clocks
to fall back tonight if they don't just automatically do
(23:45):
it digitally like half of them do in our house.
Now tonight, we're falling back an hour. You get an
extra hour sleep, and it'll be a little lighter tomorrow
morning than it was today, which you know, I have
mixed feelings about. So there you go. Anyway, last couple
of thoughts on fireplaces for you today before we're out
of here. Number one. Uh, if you've got a masonry
(24:08):
fireplace and you you you're now inspired, You're like, you
know what, Let's let's get that thing going again. Let's
maybe we're not going to burn wood, but let's get
a good gas log set like Dean said, and uh,
and get it up and running again if it hasn't
been running for a long time, even if it has.
Either way, get it inspected, all right, Masonry fireplaces should
(24:29):
be inspected, you know, once every ten years or so.
As far as looking for cracks up inside the flu,
it's not a big deal.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Most chimney sweep companies do this for you. They'll just
run a camera up inside and take a look at it.
Make sure that you're structurally sound and that you don't
have any fire uh, you know, threats from the flu
also have the flu cleaned. If you've been burning wood, especially,
have the flu cleaned every couple of years. In my opinion.
Now the sweep companies will tell you do it every year.
(25:02):
Do it every season. And if you burn a lot
of wood, yeah, that's a good idea. If you've got
a gas log set every two or three years, you said,
still have the flu cleaned out and cleared out. And
here last thing for you, and these are pearls. Even
if you don't burn fires in your fireplace, and you're
not planning on getting rid of your fireplace, so you
don't have a budget to get rid of your fireplace.
(25:22):
And it's right there, sitting right there in the living room,
in the family room. Keep it a focal point. Fill
it with loveliness, Get creative. How about a bank of
pillar candles inside that firebox? How about plants or flowers
inside the firebox? How about books? What a great, cool,
(25:44):
funky way to store books inside the firebox. I've seen
aquariums inserted into unused fireplaces in fireboxes. Really really cool idea.
And you know what, most fireplaces, based on how they're
situated in the room, If they're clean and they're lovely,
(26:07):
and they've been taken care of. Makes a great pet
bed corner for the dog or the cat, especially the
dogs though, so you got a lot of options. Think
out of the box. If you've got a fireplace that
you're not going to burn, actually have a flame in,
then keep it a focal point, make it special, make
(26:28):
it important. And that's what we're all about here on
the show, helping you transform your ordinary house into an
extraordinary home with the resources that you have on hand.
All right, be creative because design matters most all right, y'all.
That's it for us today. We will see you back
here tomorrow for the big show Sunday morning. Details that
(26:50):
matter from nine to noon. Until then, get out in
this gorgeous fall November Saturday and get busy building yourself
a beautiful life. We'll see you all tomorrow. This has
been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into
the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday
(27:12):
morning from six to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday
morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Campi AM sixty live streaming in HD everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app. Hey, welcome to home where Every week we
help you better understand that place where you live. I
am Dean Sharp, the house whisper here with you live
like I am every weekend Saturday morning, six to eight
(00:29):
Pacific time, Sunday mornings nine to noon Pacific time. I'm
giving you some advice on your fireplace today. Advice on
your fireplace. We're going to get back to that in
just a bit, but it's time to go to the phones.
But before then, my better half, my in studio partner here, Tina,
(00:49):
has something to say.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Welcome home.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Was that it good?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
We did a video this morning on the fireplace with
four tips to make a gas fireplace extra special?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
And where is this video found? Now?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
You can find this video on our Facebook, Instagram, TikTok
and X two.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Don't say that such demeaning ownes so all of our
social media and our handle is home with Dean, Home
with Dean, So so yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Like share, have fun with it. It's really cool.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, just a quick little video about four secrets to
making a gas fireplace really pop, really come to life.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
There you go. All right, thank you, you're so welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Now back to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Oh my goodness taking over. All right, We're going to
return to that conversation on fireplaces in just a bit.
But like I said, I want to go to the phones.
Let's take a call. Let's talk to Pamela. Pamela, welcome home.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Good morning, Dean. I love your show. I have a
quick question.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
What do you think of those electric fireplace inserts and
how high off the ground should it be?
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well? Inserts into what?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Into a fireplace that I took. I took a right
doing a kitchen remodel, a house remodel.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I took out a fireplace and created a pantry, but
I left about twelve inches for electrical fireplace insert one
of those fake ones.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Mm hm.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So I just want to know what your thoughts were
and how high off the ground should I create? Like
one brick right now, it's a brick facade, and I
took out the heart because I'm putting tile down right,
And I wanted to know should I go up one
brick off the ground? Should I leave it flush with
(02:57):
the ground, and is there anything I should look for
for electrical in the fireplace?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Okay, yeah, yeah, so okay, so a couple of things. One,
you know, electric fireplaces are the thing I'm going to
tell you right now is shop it, and shop it
and shop it some more, and and go and see
at your local fireplace purveyor any fireplace shop within driving
(03:30):
distance of you see it ahead of time. Because electric fireplace,
of course, they're not fireplaces. They are simulations. And so
the way those simulations are achieved some far far better
than others. And and I would say most of them,
(03:50):
most of them don't clear the bar in my mind
of what I would want to do. But there there are,
you know, a couple three out there that are like, hey,
you know what, that's kind of cool. That kind of
works and gives it, you know, enough of the effect.
So just be really persnickety and picky when it comes
to that if you really wanted to go all out
(04:14):
for I mean, here's the thing. There's two kinds of
electric fireplace. One is you know, I'm not going to
recommend it to you just because of its cost prohibitive nature,
but it's one that uses and I don't think it
would fit into a smaller space like that anyway. But
it's one that actually uses a real video screen, not
(04:38):
mounted like you would think that you're staring at straight away,
but mounted up inside. And then there's an angled piece
of glass and it's what we call the Pepper's ghost effect,
and you actually get that the real flames, a video
of real flames superimposed onto a log set. It looks
about as realistic as anything possible could when it's just
(05:01):
a plug in fireplace. It's the same effect that they
use at the Hanta Mansion at Disneyland when you see
the ghosts dancing around in the Dyning room, what they
call Pepper's ghosts. So that flame overlaid onto it. Amazing
but very expensive. Now second to that, and this is
a more realistic would be like an optimist Optimist fireplace
(05:24):
which actually uses a small reservoir of water and creates
a vapor okay that is backlit by led lights that
look incredibly realistic flame wise, because it is a natural flow,
but it's it's water vapor, and no, it doesn't get
(05:45):
everything wet around it. It's very you know, it's really
fine particulated water vapor. But check that out look that
up online optimists, and those come in various sizes, including
small enough to fit in what you're talking about. So anyway,
that's the actual My recommendation is are super realism when
it comes to that. I don't think you can do
better than those two things, but I would say the
(06:05):
optimist works probably best in your situation. The other thing
is as far as position. Now that you're free to
do whatever you want to do, the big question is
what's the best viewing angle? And so a sight unseen
for me in the room, I can't make that decision
for you, but I'll tell you this. If you're starting
from scratch again and you're free to put it wherever
you want to put it, then consider where you will
(06:28):
be in the room, what you will be doing, what
you will be looking over, in order to actually see
the fireplace effect. And that's why, quite often, I would
say more than fifty percent of the time, when we're
redoing a fireplace, we will often put the new one
is in elevated up, even in a living room, elevated
up off the floor, so that it can be seen
(06:50):
over the coffee table and take in that and the
TV that you're watching at the same time or in
a bedroom, especially in a bedroom. Fireplaces around the floor
in a bedroom are useless to you when you're in
bed because you can't see them because you're in bed.
But if you raise them up thirty inches or so,
(07:11):
then they're viewable. And in a kitchen as well, if
you're going to be enjoying it from the kid, just
consider sight lines and then place the fireplace in its
optimal viewing positions so that you get the most out
of the work that you do.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Okay, great, Can I ask you one quick question? Like
I said, I'm on a kitchen remodel a house remodel,
and I am trying to decide an island if I
should go curve or straight.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
For an island.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
For an island, it is going to be kind of
a angled.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
It's at a forty five from it's not straight.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
I don't have My kitchen is skinny, so I have
to position it kind of awkwardly, so I don't know
whether I should keep the island edge straight or curved
where the CD.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Is well, I'll tell you this that if if we're
talking about if you're talking about the countertop, not the cabinets,
then then then I would be I would free you
to do whatever you think visually and spatially works. Sometimes
that curve can really create flow around it that a
(08:23):
rectangular countertop you know, won't create. Just make sure it's
not getting in the way of anything. If you're going
to curve the cabinets, I would say, don't do that
because it's going to be way too expensive. They can
it could be done, but you don't want to waste
the money of doing that. But curving that upper the
upper counter where people are sitting, you'll not only will
you get more counter space if it works and you
(08:45):
really like that idea, you'll get more counter space, it
sounds like you also get a better flow with it
as well. That again, of course sight unseen. But that's
my best encouragement. I want to I always want to
encourage you guys to reach out, stretch out, and do
bold design and just double and triple check to make
(09:06):
sure that you're not taking it somewhere that you don't
want it to go. Pamela, thank you so much for
the call and for the question. Appreciate you and thanks
for listening to the show. All right, y'all, when we
come back, let's talk more about these fireplaces of ours.
We will do it. Hey, Fie, team Sharp the house Whisper,
thanks for joining us on the program. This morning been
(09:28):
a little bit of an odd morning. We got a
late start simply because of some technical difficulties. So much
I want to tell you about fireplaces. Let's dive back
into that topic here. We've turned the corner into November.
Time to start thinking warm and cozy. But here's the thing.
You live in southern California. You live in the state
of California, and you may or may not know that California,
(09:54):
as far as new construction or major remodels, no new
wood burning fire places, right unless with one exception. There
is one exception, and it's a good one. It's a
good exception that would be in most areas, you can
get by with a wood burning a wood stove or
pellet stove, a pellet stove specifically, now a pellet stove
(10:19):
that's not for cooking food, per se, but it is
a kind of wood burning fireplace that's super efficient, all
enclosed but lovely, and you end up getting this, you know,
it's like a Franklin stove. It's like a pot belly
kind of a stove situation, that type of fireplace sitting
out in a room, which I think is immensely beautiful
(10:42):
and very very efficient and can work with a lot
of classic decor and style as we go. So just
know that. But otherwise, no new word burning fireplace. And
now if you've got a wood burning fireplace, which a
lot of people misunderstand, you know, so let me just clarify.
You may have a masonry fireplace that has a gas
(11:04):
log set sitting in it and has never seen a
piece of wood in its entire life. And I've had,
you know, I've pointed this out to a client. I'm like, oh,
you got a wood burning fireplace?
Speaker 4 (11:13):
That are right?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
No, No, no, it's gas. It's gas. That's not what
I mean. Okay, h A wood burning fireplace is a
fireplace that was constructed in order to burn wood. Now,
if you don't want to burn wood in that fireplace
and instead you've got a gas line running into it,
either originally to actually for the log lighter for the
(11:36):
wood and now converted into a gas log set, that's great,
that's fantastic, all right, But it still remains a wood
burning fireplace. It's still capable of doing that. When it
comes to prefabricated fireplaces, as we were mentioning before, there
are both gas and wood burning prefabricated fireplaces. Don't assume
(11:59):
just because you've got a gas log set sitting in
there that it can't burn wood. Now, some of them can't,
some of the prefabricateds can't. So the question is how
do we know, Dean, Well, chances are ninety nine percent
if you've got a masonry fireplace or real masonry fireplaces,
it's capable of burning wood. Excuse me, when it comes
(12:22):
to the prefabricated fireplace and you're not sure, don't just
take out that gas set and put in logs, but
call a fireplace company and talk to them about it.
Have a chimney sweep service come out and take a
look at it, analyze it, and they'll be able to
tell you, sorry, I have a little bug in my throat.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Here.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Time for a sip of the coffee. All right. The
fireplace that is acceptable to put in brand new in California,
in the entire state of California, still gas burning what
we can call a direct vent fireplace. And this is
something that a lot of people are not familiar with
and don't understand or just assume is a kind of
(13:10):
decorative thing but doesn't really put out heat or help
the home at all. These things are not true. And
even though eight years ago, I can't believe it's been
that long since we started the show. Eight years ago,
I used to pooh pooh the direct vents because honestly,
they just weren't up to snuff. As far as real
(13:31):
features in a room, that has changed, and I'll tell
you all about it. You're listening to Home with Dean
Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty, KFI AM
sixty live streaming at HD everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
You have found yourself Home with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper.
(13:55):
Thanks for joining us on the program this morning. So
glad that you are with us. We're talking about fireplaces.
I'm giving you pearls of wisdom about this thing that
has been so iconically central in homes since homes first existed.
In fact, we could make the argument and we would
be correct that fireplaces pre date homes as far as
(14:18):
human dwellings. The discovery of fire, the utilization of fire
that started out as the tribal fire and then became
the source of cooking and gathering and storytelling and eventually
made its way from just outside your little hut to
(14:39):
inside your hut and then literally, for tens of thousands
of years, became the very center of what it means
to have a home. Still these days, we no longer
depend on modern homes on fireplaces to heat our homes everywhere,
in every room, unless you know, I've got a traditional
(15:01):
cabin or something like that going on. But the modern
home has gone past the need for a fireplace if
you don't want a fireplace, And yet most of the
US still have a fireplace in our home. And what
are we going to do with it? And that's what
I'm trying to help you with this morning. Okay. So
I was saying before the break that in the state
(15:23):
of California, and it's not going to be long before
this is, you know, all across our great nation, in
one form or another, wood burning fireplace is because of
what they do and because of smoke and all of
these issues. In California, not a thing that you can
put in a new home or a major remodel. And
(15:45):
also just the standard gas log prefabricated fireplace that I
was telling you about also not a thing that can
happen in California. So if you live in California like
we do, what are your options? Your options are the
direct vent fireplace, a much maligned, partially for its own fault,
(16:10):
and much misunderstood fireplace. So a couple of myths when
it comes to direct vent fireplaces. One is that they
don't burn gas, that they're electric. Not true. These are
gas burning fireplace gas real flames. Okay when they say
when people say, oh, it's not real, well it's as
(16:32):
real as your gas log fireplace that's sitting in your
traditional firebox. So real flames, real flame effect, all of
that eighteen hundred kelvin psychological effects because you've got a
real flame going on there. So not true. These are
gas burning fireplaces. Secondly, another myth is that they don't
(16:53):
put out any heat. Absolutely not true. The fact is
direct vent fireplaces are fall are more heat efficient than
traditional fireplace. Is way way more heat efficient a wood fireplace,
traditional wood fireplace as far as energy efficiency, and that
means the amount of fuel that's being consumed and the
(17:16):
heat that's being produced there getting into the room ten percent, Yeah,
massively inefficient. Most of that heat is going up the
chimney right out of the house. Okay, gas fireplaces in
a traditional fireplace setting, if you put a gas log
set in with ceramic, good ceramic logs, that's a vast
improvement that gets you up to about fifty percent efficiency
(17:39):
for fuel versus your heating ability. But a direct vent fireplace,
because it's a sealed, enclosed, engineered system, ninety percent plus
efficiency on most direct vent fireplaces. And so yes, there's
a glass front on a direct vent fireplace, but that
creates a heat chamber inside that then radiates through that
(18:03):
glass into the room. Most direct vent fireplaces blow traditional
fireplaces away as far as their cozy heating factor. In fact,
many of them are designed in such a way that
there are additional fans and venting that gives you the
option of not having too much heat going into the room,
so we blow that heat off up the chimney and
(18:27):
or out other vents that are controlled and dampered, so
you can control how much heat is coming into the
room and how much of it is actually coming out
of the firebox itself directly. So a total myth that
direct vent fireplates don't provide sufficient heat for a room.
Most of them provide a lot of it, more than
(18:47):
a traditional and then only this is the last myth,
maybe the most important one to blow up, is that
they only come in these ultra modern long linear flame
with a mirror background and fire glass at the bottom
and fancy lights, and that's the only kind you can get.
And that used to be the case. But it's been
(19:09):
a long time since that has not been the case.
They have improved massively. Like I said before the break,
you know, I when when California made the law saying, hey,
we can only put in direct vent fireplaces, I was
sad and dismayed, not from the concept behind it, but
(19:29):
just the fact that that I hate it when when
bureaucracy stepped forward with a thing when the technology isn't
there to actually accommodate it, and they then direct vent
fireplaces back then just weren't there. They were just not good,
mediocre at best. But nowadays, nowadays, I'm happy to put
(19:50):
them in. Now, you got to understand, there's still a
lot of mediocre ones out there, a lot of them
out there, okay, that are just like you know, and
still charging you a lot of money for them. So
you gotta shop this carefully. You got to really scrutinize them.
Don't just look at the photo of the flame that
(20:12):
they've show you on their catalog pages, because those things
aren't accurate at all. You want to see video of
these fireplaces grunning, and ideally you want to get somewhere
where you can see it firsthand for yourself. Okay, but
they have improved massively. You don't have to have the
long linear ones, although these are super cool. By the way,
(20:34):
if you do have a contemporary vibe. We can now
put in a fireplace in a home or anywhere, a
linear fireplace that can be anywhere from twenty four inches
long to twenty four feet long. I mean, it's amazing
what we can do with these fireplaces. But what about
the traditional look. Well, one of the big problems before
(20:56):
was the fact that the flames were low and they
were just sitt there at the bottom, and the log
sets look very plastic. Not Now there are some great
brands out there. I want to check out Flair. Go
to Flare, Okay, one of my favorite directvent manufacturers right now. Flair.
I think I don't know if it's Flairfireplace dot com
or just Flare, but look that up. Flare fireplaces, and
(21:19):
look for the gas log set in which the gas
lines are actually run inside the logs and the flames
emit from the log So talk about uber hyper realistic,
more realistic than your gas log set that's sitting in
your traditional one where the gases the flames are coming
out from the bottom and just lick around the logs. No,
(21:41):
these logs are quote unquote on fire and that allows
the flame to be lifted up in the firebox and
for a beautiful, beautiful presentation. And this is the way
of things. But you got to shop it carefully and
find the right ones.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
All right.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I've got a few more thoughts for you. Don't go
anywhere more on your place. When we return your home
with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper. Can't buy Sharp the
house Whisper. Welcome home. Here we are at the end
of another two hours together. Can't believe it goes by
so quickly, right, Ugh, I hope you've got a great
(22:17):
day planned. It's going to be a beautiful day here
in southern California. I hope it's lovely wherever you are
in this great nation of ours. Just to remind you
a couple of things. Number one Tomorrow Tomorrow, the big show.
From nine to noon, we're gonna be talking about decoor
details in your house, details that matter, how much details matter.
(22:39):
And this is great for everybody. Why because you know
what they do matter and sometimes they make all the
difference in the world. And the cool thing about details
mattering so much is that they usually don't cost that much,
So if you do them right, you can get a
big bang for a little buck along the way. So
that's tomorrow's show. Don't miss it. Details that Matter from
(23:02):
nine to noon, live right here tomorrow. Also, just to
remind you, we've got a video that made this morning.
Just threw it up onto our social media. It's there
for those of those of you who follow us on
social media, and if you don't, you should go do
it right now anywhere well, Instagram, Facebook, x, TikTok it's
(23:23):
on all of them. Home with Dean. While you're there,
follow us, share the video. It's fun. It's four secrets
the house whispers. Four secrets to a great gas log fireplace,
and that, of course, is what we've been talking about
this morning. One last reminder to you, set the clocks
to fall back tonight if they don't just automatically do
(23:45):
it digitally like half of them do in our house.
Now tonight, we're falling back an hour. You get an
extra hour sleep, and it'll be a little lighter tomorrow
morning than it was today, which you know, I have
mixed feelings about. So there you go. Anyway, last couple
of thoughts on fireplaces for you today before we're out
of here. Number one. Uh, if you've got a masonry
(24:08):
fireplace and you you you're now inspired, You're like, you
know what, Let's let's get that thing going again. Let's
maybe we're not going to burn wood, but let's get
a good gas log set like Dean said, and uh,
and get it up and running again if it hasn't
been running for a long time, even if it has.
Either way, get it inspected, all right, Masonry fireplaces should
(24:29):
be inspected, you know, once every ten years or so.
As far as looking for cracks up inside the flu,
it's not a big deal.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Most chimney sweep companies do this for you. They'll just
run a camera up inside and take a look at it.
Make sure that you're structurally sound and that you don't
have any fire uh, you know, threats from the flu
also have the flu cleaned. If you've been burning wood, especially,
have the flu cleaned every couple of years. In my opinion.
Now the sweep companies will tell you do it every year.
(25:02):
Do it every season. And if you burn a lot
of wood, yeah, that's a good idea. If you've got
a gas log set every two or three years, you said,
still have the flu cleaned out and cleared out. And
here last thing for you, and these are pearls. Even
if you don't burn fires in your fireplace, and you're
not planning on getting rid of your fireplace, so you
don't have a budget to get rid of your fireplace.
(25:22):
And it's right there, sitting right there in the living room,
in the family room. Keep it a focal point. Fill
it with loveliness, Get creative. How about a bank of
pillar candles inside that firebox? How about plants or flowers
inside the firebox? How about books? What a great, cool,
(25:44):
funky way to store books inside the firebox. I've seen
aquariums inserted into unused fireplaces in fireboxes. Really really cool idea.
And you know what, most fireplaces, based on how they're
situated in the room, If they're clean and they're lovely,
(26:07):
and they've been taken care of. Makes a great pet
bed corner for the dog or the cat, especially the
dogs though, so you got a lot of options. Think
out of the box. If you've got a fireplace that
you're not going to burn, actually have a flame in,
then keep it a focal point, make it special, make
(26:28):
it important. And that's what we're all about here on
the show, helping you transform your ordinary house into an
extraordinary home with the resources that you have on hand.
All right, be creative because design matters most all right, y'all.
That's it for us today. We will see you back
here tomorrow for the big show Sunday morning. Details that
(26:50):
matter from nine to noon. Until then, get out in
this gorgeous fall November Saturday and get busy building yourself
a beautiful life. We'll see you all tomorrow. This has
been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into
the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday
(27:12):
morning from six to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday
morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Home with Dean Sharp News
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