Ask This Old House

Kevin

Today on "Ask This Old House"...

Scott

This is the only light in this master bedroom. But I'm gonna fix that.

Richard

It has a handle, some small teeth, and some numbers. What is it?

Kevin

Have you guys been to the Carpenter Ball?

Richard

The Carpenter Ball? No. They never let me in.

Kevin

It's a very formal affair.

Tom

Installing cabinet hardware may look simple, but there's a few tricks to make it all line up.

Jenn

And I'm planting a garden that's gonna look beautiful and help protect this amazing marsh. And when it rains, that runoff is gonna hit this rain garden we just built, and then you're doing your part to help the marshland.

Janice

Happy to do my part.

Kevin

That's next on "Ask This Old House"... Hey, there,

Richard. -Richard

Hey, how are you?

Kevin

All right. How's the Twitter feed looking?

Richard

We are lighting it up today. Look at this.

Kevin

Tom, how are you?

Tom

I need some stuff at the hardware store.

Kevin

What do you need?

Tom

I need some 8/32 screws.

Kevin

Oh, here you go, 8/32. 1 1/4.

Tom

Okay, well, that's not all I need. I've got some other stuff I need you to get.

I actually need a -- -Kevin

I've got a sample of a knob and a sample of some pulls.

Hardware. -Kevin

Okay, good. If you use a photo when you respond to these things--

Tom

Okay, well, I need one more thing.

Kevin

Here's the jig, Tommy. That's all set for you right there. You're good. Okay? Oh, hey, one more thing, Richard.

Richard

What?

Kevin

Hashtag tea. There ya go, Pops. All you.

Tom

Is it green?

Kevin

Of course it's green.

Tom

It's probably cold.

Kevin

If you respond with a photo, you'll get a much better --

Richard

How did you know to have everything he needed? How did that happen?

Kevin

Come on, man, I'm a professional. I've been doing this for, like, a decade. And he left the list on the table last night, so I went out and got them before he showed up.

Richard

He is getting older.

Kevin

I didn't want him yelling at me.

Justin

All right, Scott. Here's the light here in our master bedroom.

Scott

Oh, cool. That's it?

Justin

That's it. No switch, no nothing.

Scott

It's not too bright.

Justin

No, it's pretty dark in here, except when it isn't.

Scott

What do you mean?

Justin

Well, as you can probably guess,

we've got a one-month old. -Scott

Cool. Congratulations.

Justin

Thanks, thanks. He sleeps here in the co-sleeper at night. So, when we turn this on, if he needs to feed or change his diaper, right in his eyes, he wakes right up, he just won't go back to sleep.

Scott

Yeah,

that's not good. -Justin

No.

Scott

What's above us?

Justin

There's an unfinished attic. It's easy to get to. You can walk right up.

Scott

All right. So, what are you thinking, switch on the wall, overhead light?

That sounds good to me. -Scott

Yeah, all right. So, let me show you how to lay it out. In a room like this, it's real tempting to get the light and put it over the bed or... But the problem is the bed's not always gonna be there. It could be here, it could be there, could be here. So, we like to center it in the largest mass of space. So, we got this wall to that wall and this wall to this wall. Let's measure it out and see what you got.

Justin

Sure. Okay.

Scott

All right, so we've got 138. Half of that is 69. So,

hold that up there. -Justin

Sure.

Scott

I like to use a piece of tape instead of marking up your ceiling here.

Justin

All right,

good idea. -Scott

So, put that at 69, right about there -- boom. Now let's go this way.

Justin

Okay.

Scott

See what we got. 168. All right, so half of that is 84. So, I'll adjust this here and move it over to 84. There you go. So, why don't we shut the power off? If you want to run downstairs, I'll tell you when this light's out. That's it!

Justin

Okay.

Scott

All right, Justin, let me show you what I've found here. So, we have two sets of wires, two blacks and two whites at this location. What that means to me is that the power comes in from the circuit breaker panel

on a black and a white. -Justin

Okay.

Scott

And then it gets sent out again on a black and a white to something else that needs power all the time, like an outlet or something like that. Now, we need to put a switch here. But this is far too high for a switch. We need to put a switch at 48 inches to center. That's about typical. So, what we're gonna have to do, I'll cut a box here. And then what we'll do, we'll run a wire from here down to this box -- that's gonna give it its power -- and then from the box up the wall, over to the light fixture.

And that's called a switch light. -Justin

Okay.

Scott

First thing we need to do is cut a box in. So, before I cut this with the saw, I use this razor. It cuts the paint so it minimizes chipping as much as possible.

Justin

Okay.

Saw whirring

Scott

Before we get any further, I'm gonna send these locator rods through the ceiling into the attic. That way, there, I can see if there's any structure that's in my way. Okay, Justin, up here in the attic, you can see over here where the flag came up. I put a piece of white tape on it. Well, that came up in between these two ceiling joists, which is great, because we can now drill the hole from below and mount the box. Over here now, this is the one right above the switch box. I need to find the top of the wall so that I can drill down and get the wire in there. For that, I've gotta remove this floorboard.

Saw whirring

Whirring stops

Drill whirring

Scott

Okay, Justin, we're gonna use this plastic box, to support the light fixture and all the splices for the new light fixture are gonna go in here. This will hold 20 pounds.

Justin

Oh, 20 pounds.

Scott

Yeah, so what happens is these metal brackets swing out, and they push back against the drywall, really locking that in tight. So, it will support everything well. And we need to get a wire from here all the way over, down here. For that, you're gonna go in the attic and do some fishing.

Justin

Okay.

Scott

Put it in more. Good. All right, hold it. Hold it. All right, I got it. Okay, that's good. Now let's do the center fixture.

Justin

Okay.

Scott

This dimmer switch is designed to work with LED lighting. Look at what I found, Justin. So, years ago, instead of using a wire nut, they would actually twist the wires together and use solder and then just tape up the connection

and tuck it in the box. -Justin

Oh, wow.

Scott

We can't do that now. We are gonna cut this off, re-strip the insulation, and use a wire nut to splice our new wires in.

Justin

Okay.

Scott

We have to leave this junction box accessible, so I'll screw on this blank cover that can be removed if necessary. Okay, Justin, the power's back on. Why don't you go ahead and hit the switch?

Justin

All right,

let's see. -Scott

Nice.

Justin

Oh, that's really bright.

Scott

Go ahead, it's a dimmer, too, so...

Justin

Okay. Oh, that's perfect for the middle of the night, yeah.

Scott

Yeah. Those late-night feedings should go well.

Justin

Oh, yeah, I could use some sleep.

Scott

Good. Enjoy, all right?

Justin

Thanks a lot, Scott.

I appreciate it. -Scott

Yeah, you're welcome.

Richard

All right, it has a handle, it has little teeth, you can see right here. It has some numbers, too. What is it?

Roger

Got it, got it, got it!

Richard

You really got it?

Roger

All right, you better be careful. Tom,

you can identify with this. -Tom

I can?

Roger

You have a meal, right, and you want to make sure that you don't have a little leftover leftover stuff.

Tom

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Roger

So, you take and go in, right, like this. How's that look?

Tom

Nice.

A little more. -Richard

There's an egg there.

One more. -Kevin

Hang on.

Tom

Maybe you need a hair comb.

Hang on. -Roger

No, no. I got a big piece.

Richard

That's no better.

Kevin

Stay away from the soup.

Okay. -Tom

Hey.

Kevin

Have you guys -- Have you guys been to the Carpenter Ball?

Richard

The Carpenter Ball? No. They never let me in.

Kevin

It's a very formal affair. Well, I mean, it's semiformal. Actually, it's very dress-down, to tell you the truth.

But they do wear boutonnieres. -Tom

Yeah.

Kevin

And this is a carpenter's boutonniere for the ball.

Tom

It is?

Kevin

Yeah, it's right here. And you can turn any screwdriver into a boutonniere. You guys are notoriously frugal.

Tom

Talented. Talented.

Richard

What are you trying to say?

Kevin

There was a ball in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015.

Richard

All right.

Kevin

And you just -- that's it. Now you're dressed up. And so long as you have your apron, you're in.

Tom

Doesn't look good on you. Actually... Actually what it is is this is a problem solver on the job.

Richard

What's the problem, Tom?

Kevin

I thought that was your job.

Tom

Well, that, too. But I'm sick and tired of trying to figure out who's going to run for coffee.

Kevin

You seem to have no problem sending me for coffee every time.

Roger

That was the only thing he got right.

Tom

So, this is actually a spinner. See, and the numbers are there -- they don't mean anything, though. You spin it, and wherever it lands, guess who's going for coffee.

Roger

Two out of three.

Kevin

Is this why I get no coffee?

You're still going. -Roger

He's still going.

Richard

Good. You're still going!

Kevin

That thing would not be allowed in Vegas.

Richard

No. This is from my industry, and it's really cool. Now, in heating or air conditioning...

Kevin

Where you going?

Richard

Over here. Come over here. Heating or air conditioning, you got air conditioning coils like this. And they can always get dinged up. You see how this -- there's little tiny fins. There's little tiny fins. So, this is designed, you pick the right spacing. So, watch this. This looks really damaged right here.

Watch what happens. -Kevin

Oh, my goodness.

Richard

I'm gonna come down. Watch. It completely straightens it. Isn't that the coolest thing?

Tom

Wow.

Kevin

That's actually pretty good.

Richard

And if I had a moustache, I could clean it.

Kevin

So, I'll take a small black, sugar.

Tom

Half-caff.

Kevin

Kitchen hardware, Tommy. Right? I don't think most people realize just how many knobs and pulls you can have in a kitchen. I mean, you could have 30, 40, or 50 of these things

in a single kitchen. -Tom

A lot. And there's a lot of different choices out there.

Kevin

So, you want to make sure that you actually put them in the right place and that you put them up accurately.

Tom

Exactly. Well, let me show you a little trick. First of all, what to do, what I like to do with base cabinets. Now, let's take this handle right here. Some people say, "Let's put it in the center of the drawer here, the center of the drawer here, or the down here." Some like it on the center of the rail. But when positioning them on a drawer -- let's start at the bottom of the drawer -- you think by placing it in the center of the drawer, it will look centered. But if you stand back and look at it, the hardware looks too low.

Kevin

Almost as if it's down here.

Tom

Right. So, what I like to do is take it and move it up 1/2 inch off center on the bottom drawer and about 1/4 inch on the next drawer up and then put it centered there. So, now when you're looking at the hardware from up here,

it looks better. -Kevin

Good idea. All right. And so, on the upper cabinets when we have doors, we've got a rail, we've got stiles. And sometimes you would use the center of these, either top or bottom to locate a pull or a knob.

Tom

Right, a pull or a knob. Let's take a knob right here. So, you may position the knob right here, you could position it down here. Let me show you a little trick. You can take a piece of this two-face putty right here, stick it on the knob, and really hold it up there and say...

Kevin

Oh,

that's clever. -Tom

..."Is that where I want it to go?"

Kevin

Boy, I can't tell you how many hours I spent looking at these things, trying to decide where they go in my kitchen.

You can go crazy. -Kevin

Actually, I wasn't deciding,

I just agreeing. -Tom

Yeah, exactly.

Kevin

All right. But regardless of where you put them, you want to make sure that if you put one down here on this door, that it's in the exact same spot on this door,

and the same thing up top. -Tom

Right. And you can use a tape measure and a square like this -- it's actually a combination square. And you can set the offset right here to the center of that stile.

And then mark a mark like that. -Kevin

Mm-hmm.

Tom

And then come down here with the height here. Measure down from the top of your two points.

Right. -Tom

What I like to do is I like to make a jig. And with some scrap wood, you can take three pieces of scrap wood and put a piece on the top and a piece on the side

and let each one hang over just a little bit. -Kevin

Right.

Tom

That allows you to take this piece with the holes drilled for the hardware that I've chosen, take it and put it on the door, rest it on the top and on the side, and drill my two holes for the handle that I've chosen.

Kevin

Gives you an offset from the top and offset from the side.

Tom

Right. And it allows me to take it and flip it over so I can do the same thing on the left-

or the right-hand door. -Kevin

Very clever.

Tom

I can also use it on my bottom and top cabinets the same way. Just flip it over. Do it here, do it there, drill my holes.

Kevin

So, homemade jig for you, although there are a lot of jigs out there that you can buy to help you with this job, as well.

Tom

There's all kinds of jigs, from this type right here, a simple jig, you figure out where the holes are, you're gonna use it. You put it here, and you punch a hole, you punch a hole, and then you drill it.

Kevin

So, that's just for marking.

Tom

Just for marking. All right, now, there's a jig right here that's come out, you can set the offset, put it on the side of the door. And this is for those wide handles that I set it up for. And I push it on the door right there, and it gives me -- I can line it up. For example, I'd line it up right here.

Kevin

All right, with the top rail.

Tom

And I'd take my drill, and I drill through there, and I drill through there. Because this is a metal, it gives you a nice metal guide to guide the drill and keep it straight.

Keep it straight. -Tom

All right, now what I use is I actually use this one right here.

Kevin

Ooh, fancy.

Tom

it sets on the door. It gives me my center. It drops down and gives me my height. And I can turn it around and do the other door the same way.

Kevin

So, here we've got the spacing for a pull. But then we've also got the center point for a knob.

Tom

Right. You can use it for a knob, and I can take and use this one for a knob as long as I'm consistent in what I'm gonna do. I can also use this on a drawer. I can take it and put it on the drawer and center the position off the top of the drawer, making sure that I use it on all the same-height drawers.

Kevin

All right. So, think about the positioning, make sure you get it accurate, and to do that, in most cases, you're gonna be using some kind of a jig.

Exactly. -Kevin

All right, good information.

Thank you. -Tom

My pleasure.

Jenn

Hi, Janice.

Janice

Hi, Jenn. Nice to meet you.

Jenn

Nice to meet you,

too. -Janice

Yeah.

Jenn

Incredible property. 100 steps that way,

you have the beach. -Janice

It's amazing.

Jenn

Over here, acres upon acres of marshland.

Janice

We love it. We love everything about it. We've been here about 10 years. There's only one thing we don't love about it. We can't seem to plant anything. Nothing grows. You can see we have these containers over here aboveground. But that's it.

Jenn

So, you've tried and tried. There's a couple different reasons. See this white marks?

Janice

Yeah, yeah.

Jenn

That's the salt. It's the salinity in the soil. Not a lot of plants tolerate salt on their feet. So, that is a difficulty, as well as...the soil. It's peat. It is decomposed plant material as your soil base. It's very dense, very acidic, and you can't grow anything here.

Janice

So it wasn't my fault that nothing grew.

Jenn

It wasn't. But I do have some good news for you. We have a plan to beautify your area and offer other benefits, as well.

Janice

I can't wait.

Jenn

Janice, I'd like to introduce you to an old friend of mine -- Peter Phippen. He is an environmental scientist, and he's worked for years on trying to restore these marshlands right behind your house.

Janice

Hi,

Peter. -Peter

Hi, Janice, nice to meet you.

Janice

Nice to meet you, too.

Peter

Wow, what a beautiful site you have here. Did you realize that you're sitting right on the part of the Great Marsh? It's a 25,000-acre marshland. It's the largest continuous marsh in New England.

Janice

I did not know that.

Peter

Yes, and it's home to a lot of important species -- native grasses and plants all find home here. It's also home to finfish that spend part of their lifecycle -- these are ocean fish that come in, either spawn or feed or whatever. There's also shellfish, as well as it's a major stopover on the North Atlantic flyway for shore birds that come along here.

Janice

Oh, yeah, we see so many birds.

Peter

Yeah. Do you realize that you also have an impact? Your property potentially has an impact on this marsh. What happens is when it rains out, rain falls down on your roof and on your driveway, on your lawn, and it runs down into the marsh. The first flush, which is the first 1/4 inch of rainfall, carries all kinds of contaminants, either fluids from your car, fertilizers from your lawn, dog waste, and whatever happens to be on the road that comes down your driveway, and flows down into the marsh. This changes the water quality of the marsh itself, causing all kinds of problems, allowing non-native invasive species to populate the marsh, as well as killing off some of the native grasses and vegetation that lives in the marsh.

That sounds horrible. -Peter

It is.

Jenn

Peter and I have been working on a design for you, and we have designed a rain garden so you could help with that impact.

Janice

Wow, what's that?

Jenn

So, your driveway pitches this way. All the water rushes down this way. So, this rain garden that we have designed, we're gonna make a bed starting here and wrapping around this portion of the driveway. And we're gonna also dig down about 18 inches, remove that really tough peat mass of soil. We're gonna put in flowering shrubs and native grasses. Everything's gonna be native, but what the function of this is to catch that first runoff, and it's gonna filter all those contaminants and stop it before it goes out to destroy and harm any of the marshland.

Janice

Sounds perfect.

Jenn

So, you feel like digging a hole?

I'm excited. -Jenn

All right,

let's get some shovels. -Janice

Let's do it.

Jenn

Pretty tough, huh?

Janice

This is not an easy job.

Jenn

There is a lot of clay.

Janice

Yes.

Jenn

With our hole at the right depth, we're gonna add one to two inches of course sand all along the bottom.

Janice

Okay.

Jenn

I think that's good. All right, Janice, we are going to unload the plants and put them in the wheelbarrow. I like to lay the plants down in the truck bed. It protects them from the wind, and it doesn't damage them.

Janice

Great.

Jenn

All right, so we're gonna take these out of the pots and place them, and then we're gonna backfill around them. I'd like them staggered.

Peter

All right.

Jenn

And after they're placed, we'll go along and score the roots.

Peter

These plants!

Jenn

I know, they're gorgeous.

Janice

They are so beautiful.

Jenn

They're gonna sound really amazing in the wind.

Peter

Yeah.

Jenn

So, all the plants are placed. What do you think?

Janice

Beautiful. I love this.

Jenn

This is called switchgrass. It's a native grass. It keeps this vertical, upright structure. Sways in the wind. It's just beautiful to listen to and watch.

Janice

What happens when the snow plow comes and puts the snow on top?

Jenn

Well, you can cut them down at the end of the season, snow could come on top, and in the spring, they'll emerge again.

Janice

Great.

Jenn

And so, then you come down here to anchor this corner, we have clethra, which is summer sweet is a common name. And it's just starting to flower right now. See that?

Janice

Mmm!

Jenn

Smell that? It's like a sweet, peppery smell. But it's a native plant, and it's gonna be hearty for this situation. Over here, we have two different blueberries. And the blueberries are gonna be great for the birds, but you probably don't want to eat them, since we're filtering off all the contaminants. But we have two different varieties for the cross-pollination that will produce more berries.

Janice

Great. Happy birds.

Jenn

They'll be happy birds. I can't wait to see them come. All right, so we're gonna backfill these plants with a third coarse sand, a third compost, and a third bark mulch. Bark mulch and the coarse sand are gonna act as a filtration system to filter out the contaminants, and the compost is gonna give nutrients to the plants.

Janice

Sounds good.

Jenn

And now we're gonna water in the plants to settle in the soil and get the plants established. Then we'll put down a layer of mulch.

Peter

How's it look?

Jenn

Great.

Beautiful. -Peter

Nice.

Jenn

That's the way to do it.

Peter

Well, Janice, keep on watering, just like this for about another month, once a day. And that's all that it will take for the plants to become established. And after that, it's up to rain, and rainwater will keep them alive.

That's great. -Jenn

And when it rains, that runoff is gonna hit this rain garden we just built, and then you're doing your part to help the marshland.

Janice

Happy to do my part. Thank you so much for your help.

Thank you. -Jenn

Thanks for having us.

Bye-bye. -Jenn

Bye.

Kevin

Next time on "Ask This Old House"... we'll finish our tour of the U.S. with a visit to our 50th state. Welcome to Hawaii.

Richard

I'll take a look at the latest upgrade in home solar systems -- onsite storage.

Tom

This Hawaiian keepsake box is all about the grain of the beautiful hardwood. And we'll show you how to build it.

Roger

And I'll show you how to plant a garden -- Hawaiian style.