Ask This Old House

Kevin: On "Ask This Old House," our experts travel across the country to answer questions about your house.

Today, Mauro helps a homeowner design and paint an accent wall.

Emily: I love it.

It looks amazing.

Kevin: Then, do plants clean the air?

Can they repel mosquitoes?

Jenn discusses some of these common plant myths.

And when homeowners ask for an affordable patio option, Mark suggests installing a pea stone patio.

Mark: Feels pretty rock solid.

Greg: Love it.

Kevin: All that, on "Ask This Old House."

Emily: Alright.

Hi, Mauro.

Mauro: Okay.

Hello.

Emily: Thanks so much for coming today.

Mauro: Oh, my pleasure.

Emily: This is my dog, Waffles.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks.

We actually just moved into this house.

Mauro: Wow.

Emily: But I'm having a baby, and I'm due next month, and... Mauro: Alright.

Emily: ...it's just a little too pink.

We're looking for something a bit more neutral.

Mauro: Got it.

So, any color that you're thinking about for this room?

Emily: I was thinking of doing, like, a greenish color.

Mauro: Okay.

I like that.

So, every time when I come in to a painting project, I like to understand the purpose of the room.

Emily: Right.

Mauro: And if this is going to be a nursery, maybe you want to bring some color that brings you some tranquility when you're going to stay here with your baby, and the color helps a lot.

So, some colors that makes you feel comfortable in the room.

At the same time, baby and mom will be very happy in here.

Emily: Yeah.

That's honestly good to know.

And I was thinking, too, that since the room's empty, we could do some sort of accent on the wall as well.

Mauro: Alright.

I like that.

But let's paint this whole room first, and then we'll talk about the accent color.

Alright?

Emily: Okay.

Sounds good.

Mauro: We're going to paint this room just the way we would paint any room.

We start with the prep, take down the curtain rods, remove cover plates, and protect the floors, baseboards, and the outlets.

Then we'll cut the edges and roll the walls.

Emily: [ Laughs ] Mauro: There we go.

Now you go all the way up, and all the way up and down.

Yeah, all the way down to the bottom.

Emily: Oh, my gosh.

I painted on the windowsill and on the ceiling already.

Mauro: Alright.

I'm gonna get you a wet rag.

Be right back.

Alright.

Wet rag.

Emily: Okay.

Mauro: Don't wait for the paint to dry, okay?

Just clean it right away.

Okay.

Good as new.

Emily: Perfect.

Mauro: You can always go back, spread the paint a little more.

Emily: You're so good at cutting those lines.

Mauro: Oh, you will be great if you practice like this.

Emily: Yeah.

Mauro, why are we not priming?

Mauro: Well, every time when you paint over a surface that has been painted already, you do not need primer.

Emily: Oh, really?

Mauro: Yes.

If you go down like a bare plaster, fresh plaster, then you do need to put a coat of primer on it.

See, when you cut in rounds, you know, thermostats or any stuff like this, it's very, very tight and very difficult to get your brush in there.

Emily: Right.

Mauro: Just the very tip.

And you're going to make the brush dance a little bit.

Well, now the first coat's dry, and we can repeat the same as we did before.

Well, Emily, the walls are completely dry and it's ready for the accent wall.

Emily: Perfect.

Yeah, I like this wall for an accent wall, because I think that it just has some nice dimension to it.

Mauro: I like that too, because you see that slanted wall diving right into the wall here.

So if we do an accent here, it's going to look really good, and this will make part of that.

What do you have in mind?

Emily: I was thinking of doing two arches.

Mauro: Arches?

Emily: Yeah.

Mauro: Like that.

Okay, I like that.

So, how wide do you want the arches to be?

Emily: Hm, I was thinking maybe like this wide.

Mauro: Okay.

What about... Well, we got 20, 25, we got 26... Emily: Yeah, I think 26 looks good.

Mauro: Okay, then.

Just put a mark right there.

Alright.

Very good.

Now, how tall do we want this?

Emily: Yeah, so how tall do you think that we should do it so that it doesn't hit the top part?

Mauro: We got 24 inches wide.

38 inches, or maybe 40 inches.

Emily: Okay.

Mauro: You want to put a mark right in there?

Emily: Yeah.

Mauro: We're going to put right here, at the mark... Let's put that on level.

Now we're going to do this.

We're going to draw a line right there.

Okay, we're going to do the same way on that side.

You want to do that?

Emily: Sure.

Mauro: All the way down.

We're going to get the pencil here with the string.

And then we're going to put this right in the center here, which is half of the 26.

We're going to trace the lines and make the arch.

Emily: Oh, cool.

Mauro: What do you think?

Emily: Looks really good.

Mauro: Alright, how big do we want to do the other one?

Emily: I think where the top of the arch... Mauro: Alright.

Cool.

Go up.

Don't loosen up.

Keep straight.

Yeah.

Keep going.

Emily: I'm stuck.

Mauro: Keep going.

Just... Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Keep going down here.

Emily: [ Laughs ] Perfect.

Mauro: Okay, now we can tape.

And this is how we're going to do it.

We're going to start from the straight point here.

We're going to put the tape on the outside of the line.

Okay.

Emily: Okay.

Mauro: Press it down.

So, this is a very thin, low-tack tape.

Emily: Okay.

Mauro: It won't pull the paint or anything.

Now the bottom.

Got it.

To get to the curves of the arch, we can rip small sections of tape at a time and curve it around the reference line.

This is the hardest part of this whole process.

Emily: Okay.

I actually find this to be not as hard because I don't have to be crouching over.

Mauro: Guess what time it is?

Emily: It's time to paint.

Mauro: Let's do it.

Alright, you do the green, and I will do the beige.

Emily: Okay.

Okay.

Mauro: Just like that.

Emily: Okay.

Mauro: The roller will do all the work for you.

Emily: Okay.

Mauro: Alright?

And if you run out of paint, get more paint.

Emily: I'm definitely going to need a couple coats on this one.

Mauro: You will.

Yes.

Second coat is done.

Emily: Okay.

Mauro: Now let's remove the tape while the paint is still wet.

Just one more thing to do.

You see that gap?

Emily: Yes.

Mauro: Just going to have to fill that in with paint.

But this time, we're not going to use tape.

Emily: Okay.

Mauro: It's gonna be freehand.

You can use the tape for this final section, but it's important that the paint for the arches is completely dry.

I use a paint brush all the time, so I am comfortable free-handing.

What do you think?

Emily: I love it.

It looks amazing.

It's so much calmer in here.

And I think it's going to be perfect.

Mauro: Absolutely.

You got three great colors there.

The combination of the three together looks nice.

Peaceful.

This is all the meaning for this whole room, right?

Emily: Yeah.

Mauro: Alright.

Enjoy the room.

Good luck with everything.

Emily: Thank you so much.

Mauro: any more projects, let me know.

Emily: Okay.

Perfect.

Mauro: Alright.

Thank you.

Waffy, do you like the room?

Kevin: Hey, Jenn.

Jenn: Hey, Kevin.

Kevin: Ooh, are we talking houseplants here?

Jenn: Nope.

We are talking houseplant myths.

Kevin: Oh.

Even better.

I'm leaning in.

Jenn: Alright.

Kevin: What are some of the houseplant myths?

Jenn: Well, this is a pothos plant, first of all.

It's common houseplant.

And we're talking about air purification within the house.

Kevin: Oh, my God, I've heard this so many times.

Jenn: I know.

There's many studies out there.

But based off a study in 1989 from NASA, it removes carbon dioxide and VOCs from the air.

Kevin: So, the idea is if I've got a few plants, that the air in my house is much more pure than everything else.

Jenn: Absolutely.

Kevin: True or not true?

Jenn: It is true if your entire room was filled with plants.

You know, like, if you just have one or two plants, it's not -- you can't depend on that for the absolute air quality, but it is a great idea.

I'm still going to have plants in my house.

You know, it's good for your mental health.

It makes you calm.

And so, it's a myth, but it is effective in large quantities.

Kevin: But you got to have really large quantities.

Jenn: Yeah.

Like your whole... Kevin: Okay.

Alright, I get it.

That's a good balance.

Jenn: Alright.

So myth number two.

Do you know what this is?

Kevin: A houseplant.

Jenn: Alright.

This is citronella.

Kevin: Oh, okay.

Yeah.

So, citronella, I think, is what keeps mosquitoes away.

Jenn: Yep.

So, a common myth is if I plant citronella around my patio, the mosquitoes will not come.

But in fact, they will come, because it's just not effective with a couple plants.

I think the most effective form is getting a citronella candle.

Right?

Kevin: Right.

Kevin: So, that -- I mean, just that is so much more... Just the scent is so much more concentrated.

Jenn: Yes.

Kevin: They've taken the oils and they made it into a candle.

Jenn: And when you light this, you know, when you put that flame on and then it just -- it cooks the oil and then it emanates in the air.

Between that and the smoke, you know, I find that very effective.

Kevin: So, that's interesting.

It is actually a mosquito repellent, but only effective when it's this concentrated, okay.

Jenn: You know, some people like to put scented geranium with lavender and citronella in the garden, and those do deter insects, but mass quantities again.

Kevin: I'm calling it two myths busted.

Alright.

What's this myth about?

Jenn: This myth is about roots and root pruning.

People are afraid to prune roots.

They think they're going to hurt the plant.

Kevin: Yeah.

I would never cut a root.

Jenn: What?

Kevin: I just assume that I'm killing it slowly.

Jenn: Well, especially in containers, right?

So, this, you're going to cut them.

When I'm going to transfer it to a new pot, it's important to prune the roots.

It'll help stimulate the plant.

And then, I'm gonna take this pot off.

Kevin: Oh, yeah.

Jenn: So, these roots are going to continue growing.

And see how this goes in circular fashion?

What you want to do is just pull them out.

Fan them all out.

Don't be afraid.

You're not going to hurt the plant.

You might mess up the table.

Kevin: Tease the roots, as you guys say, right?

Jenn: Tease the roots.

And so when I go to replant this in this pot with new soil, it's going to be able to reach out.

Kevin: But could you trim those?

Like when you pull that out of the little plastic container, could you trim those without harming the plant?

Jenn: Absolutely.

Kevin: Does it stir regrowth?

Jenn: It stimulates growth.

Kevin: So it stimulates, right.

Jenn: So, I cut that there.

Just the long ones that have been reaching out because they had... In these pots, they reach out through the holes because they're looking for somewhere else to go.

And that's when you know you need to repot it.

So, reach out and then put this in the pot at the appropriate level, backfill with soil.

Kevin: Trim the roots.

Jenn: Trim the roots.

Don't be afraid.

Kevin: Alright.

Well, thank you for clearing up the myths.

Jenn: Yeah.

No problem.

Kevin: And I'm going to tease the plant.

[ Mockingly ] You're so small, you're so small!

Jenn: You're so bad.

Kevin: He's bigger than you!

Mark: Michelle!

Michelle: Hi, Mark.

Mark: How are you?

Michelle: Good.

How are you?

Greg: Mark, good to see you again.

Mark: Alright.

My pleasure.

Michelle: So, we have a new build.

We've been in here a few years now, and we've done a bit of work.

When we first moved in, there was a big slope here.

Greg: And this used to be all woods, and we recently just had it leveled out just for an area for our kids to play in.

Mark: Alright.

Michelle: Then we've added in the swing set, which is great, but we still don't have an area for us to be able to sit and watch the kids.

We have the deck, which is nice, but it's kind of small and it's up high.

So we'd like to have an area to sit and watch the kids play.

Mark: Okay.

Greg: And we'd really like a budget-friendly option because of how much that just cost us.

Mark: Sure.

A couple things for me to consider.

But I'm going to go grab my tape.

I'll meet you guys back here, and we can do some layout.

Both: Sounds good.

Thank you.

Mark: Alright.

Alright, well, I think I have this figured out.

So, from the first step over here all the way to the end of the deck, we have about 18 feet.

I like to hold the patios back off of edges.

I'd like to propose a 16 foot by 14 foot pea stone patio.

The pea stone will look good, plus it's affordable.

You still have a slight slope in your yard, so what we'll need to add is a short retaining wall along the front edge to hold the pea stone level.

And then what I think I'm going to do to get you from this concrete is a couple stepping stones, and I'm going to do the same thing to get you to your shed.

But if you guys come this way, you can see how quickly we dropped.

Okay, so that's why I want to build that wall here, but I have some material that I think is really going to do us well.

So why don't we take a look at it.

Michelle: Alright.

Mark: Alright.

Alright, so these are the materials I was talking about.

First we have the pea stone.

How do you like that, Greg?

Greg: I like that a lot.

Mark: It's got nice rounded edges.

It's also in budget, which is a good thing.

It stays down fairly well, but we do have a couple things that are going to help with that.

So, first I have landscape fabric.

This is going to help us with separation.

We don't want the pea stone to run into the dirt.

So that's very important.

What we have here is the binding agent.

This is going to help us keep the pea stone together.

You have little kids that, you know, they love to pick things up and throw everything around.

So this is going to help us with that.

This is the landscape block -- again, that's going to help us with that off-level over there.

So we're going to put a little retaining wall in.

That's going to level off the patio.

Let's get going.

Tough digging, Greg.

Greg: It absolutely is.

You see these rocks?

Mark: A lot of rocks here.

Michelle: How deep are we digging?

Mark: We're going to go 4 or 5 inches deep.

The beauty of a pea stone patio is that we don't have to go a full 8 inches as we normally would with hardscape.

For the wall, we'll install it the same way we would normally approach a wall.

We will dig 12 inches down and compact it.

And then a layer of gravel for drainage.

Great.

We will compact that, as well.

And then we can lay the blocks.

Alright.

Good muscles.

We got it.

And all we're doing is lining it up with the last one.

So, you see how important putting the gravel down is.

When it's level, we don't have to spend too much time with the block.

Do the same thing.

Walk it in.

So, I can handle this one.

Michelle: Okay.

Mark: And you can see this corner has a face on the end and a face facing out.

We prepped the gravel perfectly, so we're looking pretty good.

This is just a masonry adhesive.

So, now what we're going to do is lay down the caps.

Michelle: Alright.

Mark: Perfect.

I don't like to do that upper lip with glue, because it oozes out.

Michelle: Mm.

Mark: This is what they call a bullet level.

It's made for this type of job right here.

You can see that's pretty perfect.

I want to go this way as well... which is great.

So you can see I pitched the cap just a little bit this way.

That's for water runoff.

Michelle: Okay.

Mark: I'm going to go into the back side of that and just pick it up, bouncing the whole way.

Alright, so all we're going to do is rinse and repeat all the way down the line.

Michelle: Sounds good.

Mark: Roll that into place.

Michelle: Alright.

Mark: Alright, Greg, so now that the wall is in, first thing we're going to do is compact this soil.

So, this whole area has to be wet because we're going to really kick up the dust.

Greg: Okay.

Mark: So if you stay ahead of me with the water, we'll minimize that.

So, now time for landscape fabric.

I want to start at this end so I can overlap as I go towards the porch.

Greg: Okay.

Mark: If I have water runoff, I don't want it to sneak under the fabric paper.

Alright, Greg, so the next step is the drainage pipe.

If you noticed, this is 4-inch perforated pipe.

So, you can see the perforation right there.

It's wrapped in fabric, and I'm just going to put it up against the wall from start to finish.

I am a little long right here, so I'm just going to trim it.

And now I'm going to poke it out of this corner.

Just in case we have water overflow, gravity will help me out and take the water away.

The final step in our prep work is going to be this aluminum edging.

It's actually going to hold back the dirt from the pea stone, which is very important.

And now the pea stone.

Alright, Greg, you're going to want to spread that out.

For the first layer, we're going to go a couple inches.

Greg: Okay.

Mark: Okay.

So, this is the top coat.

You guys are going to continue to rake out, but I'm going to come behind you guys with a 6-foot level.

That's going to act as a screed.

Okay, Michelle, we're going to apply the binding agent to the pea stone.

Alright, Greg, these are your stepping stones.

This is the configuration that I thought might work best.

What do you think?

Greg: No, I love it.

It leads to the backyard, leads to the patio, and then leads right to the shed.

Mark: Exactly.

So, what we're going to do is trace around the stones, move them out of the way, and then create a base by digging twice the thickness of the stone.

I like this depth.

Adding and compacting crushed stone, which will help with drainage.

And then adding a layer of wet stone dust, which will help lock the stepping stones into place.

And that's it.

Just drop it.

Okay.

And now we want to wiggle.

Tap, tap.

Okay.

I'm going to take some of this stone dust, the wet stuff, and really pack it in on the edges.

Greg: Okay.

Mark: Feels pretty rock solid.

Greg: Love it.

Mark: So, here we are.

Finished product.

Patio, wall.

We backfilled a little bit.

So the only couple of things I'm going to ask of you guys is just to stay off that for 72 hours.

Let that binding coat really solidify.

We've created a little bit of a ledge for you with the retaining wall.

So an option may be to do a little bush planting out front.

Other than that, you should be good to go.

Michelle: Alright.

Thank you.

Now we can watch our kids run around.

Maybe sometimes we'll sit.

We'll see.

Mark: I love it.

I love it.

Take care, Michelle.

Michelle: Thank you.

Mark: Alright.

Thank you, Greg.

Greg: Take care, Mark.

Mark: Okay.

Take care.

Kevin: Next time on "Ask This Old House"... Nathan helps a homeowner measure for new shades and assists in the install.

Woman: That's really nice.

Kevin: Then, Richard gives a quick anatomy lesson on toilet tanks.

And how do you add curb appeal to a steep front yard?

Jenn jumps in with a design plan.

Jenn: This is called panicum virgatum.

They're going to help stabilize this slope.

Kevin: All that, on "Ask This Old House."