Ask This Old House

Kevin

Today on "Ask This Old House" -- maker Jenn Largesse will show us a few tricks on the miter saw.

Jenn L.

Yeah, so today we're going to be using the miter saw, which is really a tool that most homeowners own, and they're very familiar with how to make a cross cut, how to make a miter cut, but these projects were made specifically only using a bevel cut feature.

Jenn

In Brooklyn, I'll turn this messy, weedy front stoop into something more inviting. All right, so go down by the base and pull them out.

I like it. Lucy

Beautiful.

Heath

And this mantel is begging for a fireplace, but there isn't enough room to fit one. I have a solution for that.

Kevin

Hi, there. I'm Kevin O'Connor, and welcome back to "Ask This Old House." We have got a great show for you today, including maker and blogger Jenn Largesse, who's joining us. We're thrilled to start working with her. Apparently she's already here. Hey, Jenn. Hey, Tommy.

Tom

Hey, Kevin. How are you?

Jenn L.

Hi.

Kevin

So don't listen to anything he says.

Not true. Tom

You're gonna start, right?

Kevin

We want to get started with you, Jenn. Are you all set up in the carpentry section?

I am. Kevin

Tommy, can I borrow her?

Tom

Sure, do you need anything from me?

Kevin

Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, I take my coffee black and sweet.

Laughter

Kevin

Jenn, you want anything? He's offering.

Tom

I can -- I'll be more than happy to get you a coffee, Jenn.

Never. Tom

You? Eh...

Kevin

Come on, Jenn. Jenn, tell me about some of the stuff you're sharing with folks online.

Jenn L.

Yeah, I share everything from whole room remodels down to easy woodworking projects, and that's really where my passion lies. You know, my dad was a carpenter, and I grew up watching shows like "This Old House," so I really have a foundation based in good instruction, but I think a lot of people my age

are probably just diving in... Kevin

Right.

Jenn L.

...and it can be really frustrating if a project doesn't turn out how you thought it would or if there's a tool that turns out to be a little bit more intimidating than you thought it would be.

Kevin

Right.

Jenn L.

So it's something that I started as a hope for just sharing really beginner level instructions so that people can get the foundation that I received.

Kevin

Confidence and a little bit of inspiration, right, because you do want them to dive in, and as you say, it doesn't always go the way you want.

Jenn L.

Exactly, and so there's a couple different ways that I do that. One is a tool tutorial for homeowners who are just getting started with a new tool that's pretty intimidating, maybe something like a pneumatic nailer.

Yeah. Jenn L.

But then we also share tool tutorials with more familiar tools, like a miter saw, and we really hone in on a specific skill or tip that has a wide variety of applications.

Kevin

Got it. All right, so today we're going to be working on a project. I'm looking at stuff that has a clear theme to it.

Jenn L.

Yeah, so today we're going to be using the miter saw, but these projects were made specifically only using a bevel cut feature.

Kevin

Six, right, so six-sided. Remind me...

Jenn L.

Yeah, these are hexagons.

Kevin

Hexagons, thank you. My geometry is no good.

Jenn L.

Well, this project does require a little bit of math, but it's really easy once you decide how many sides you want your shape to have. So if you think of this as 360 degrees, and with six sides, you want to divide the 360 degrees by six, which is...

60 degrees. Jenn L.

Yup, exactly, and so you want two boards to come together to make that 60-degree miter,

so half of 60 is 30. Kevin

Right.

Jenn L.

So I can now set the bevel on my miter saw and just make some repetitive cuts.

Kevin

All right, well, let's show and inspire.

Jenn L.

All right, so for this I'm using a poplar 1/2-inch board just from the home center. We're setting up here on your nice saw.

Kevin

Yeah, this will -- This will do everything for you.

Jenn L.

This will do the trick. Really any miter saw that has a bevel adjustment will work just fine for this project. You just need to be able to set the bevel, so on your saw we flip up here, we spin it over to 30 degrees.

Kevin

Okay.

Jenn L.

And now I'm not going to use any measuring for this project. I'm just going to make sure that all of my pieces turn out to be exactly the same size, which is perfect for the use of a stop block. All right, and then I'm going to trim the end of my board at 30 degrees and then just make repetitive cuts.

Buzzing

Jenn L.

Okay, so I want my angles to be opposite, so I'm actually going to flip the board and then slide it down to my stop block, make the next cut.

Buzzing

Jenn L.

And now I have two opposing angles, and I'll just repeat this cut.

Buzzing

Jenn L.

So you just need to knock off any burrs from the cut, make sure your joints all come together nice and clean. All right. So you just put them end to end with the widest face touching. And then we're going to go ahead and join them just using regular painter's tape. All right, and now we can flip these over and add our glue. And then we can tip these up and start to form our joints.

Kevin

See, how satisfying is that? Just coming together.

Jenn L.

And then if you'll hold that, we're going to go ahead and get one more piece of painter's tape and secure that last joint.

Kevin

Little low.

Jenn L.

You can see we've used it to make some planters, a wine rack, a desk organizer, but really the possibilities are endless depending on the thickness of the board

and the size of your cut. Kevin

All right. Well, that looks cool, so thank you for the inspiration, and come back and join us again.

Jenn L.

Thanks. Thanks for having me.

Jenn

Hi,

Lucy. Lucy

Hey, Jenn.

Welcome to Brooklyn. Jenn

Thanks. It's quite the place. I mean, it's super busy, lots of noise here.

Lucy

Yeah, we have the BQE, Brooklyn Queens Expressway, which is loud, and we have a bus stop, all very convenient, but it does make for a lot of noise.

Jenn

So how long have you lived here?

Lucy

Twelve years ago we bought it, and it's been a lot of work, but we love it.

Jenn

How long have you been renovating for?

Lucy

Twelve years also.

Both laugh

Jenn

Well, sometimes it takes that long, and that's why sometimes things get neglected.

So this is why you e-mailed in. Lucy

Yeah.

Jenn

Yeah, so just if we remove the weeds, it's going to clean up your -- this whole area, but I see what you've got started back here

with these planters. Lucy

Yup.

Jenn

But those look like they're starting to deteriorate, and so what I want to do is bring in some new ones, add some new plants and maybe some up lights to increase your stoop life.

Lucy

Oh, excellent. That sounds great.

Jenn

Because you use it, right?

Lucy

Yeah, it's like our front porch. We hang out here. We see our family, our friends. Everyone sort of hangs out. It's a very Brooklyn thing.

Jenn

I love the community aspect of that, so let's enhance it by starting to pull the weeds.

Great. Jenn

All right. All right, so go down by the base and pull them out. You can do it two ways. You can manually pull them like we're doing. What I like to do sometimes is spray them, and the spray consists of salt, vinegar, and dish soap. The dish soap coats the leaves and suffocates it, and the salt dehydrates it by the roots. Okay, so these planters are made of fiberglass. They are very light, easy to maneuver. They withstand winter temperatures, and not to mention this color looks amazing with your railings. Nice. They actually look perfect.

Lucy

Good.

They're beautiful. Jenn

All right. Let's start with putting crushed stone at the bottom over the drainage holes so they don't get clogged. Okay, now we're going to fill the containers...

Lucy

Thank you.

Jenn

...with potting soil and compost,

and we're going to go 2

1, two bags potting soil, one bag compost. Your turn.

Lucy

Thank you.

Jenn

So get your hands in there and mix those two up. All right, Lucy, I'm going in on this side, and if you could hand me this beautiful dogwood. Awesome. Okay, so I have two kousa dogwoods, one for each planter. They flower around mid-June, Father's Day. Fall color is a brilliant burgundy color, and then they also get these beautiful red fruits on them.

Lucy

It's going to be so beautiful.

Jenn

And see, Lucy, these roots, it's called pot bound.

Okay. Jenn

When they start to grow, if they've been in the container too long, they start to grow in a circle, so what you want to do is break them up. So when they're broken up and pointing out this way, they're going to reach into the soil.

Lucy

Gotcha. Okay.

Jenn

All right. I'm just going to double check this height right here. I think that looks pretty -- Let me add a little soil. All right. That looks pretty good. So if you go up a couple steps and take off the orange tape, and we'll open it up, and we're going to pick a face, so let's see.

Lucy

All right. That looks great.

Jenn

Looks good. Maybe you step out there and see if it looks -- Because sometimes trees have a flat side.

Lucy

Yup.

Jenn

It's at the right level. What do you think, Lucy?

Lucy

I think it looks great. Turn it a little to the left, maybe? That's great.

Jenn

All right, no, I like that. You know what? We might need a little more soil, Lucy.

Lucy

Okay. All right, Jenn.

Jenn

That looks straight though?

Yeah. Jenn

Okay.

I like it. Lucy

Beautiful.

Jenn

This is a plant called coleus.

Yup. Jenn

It's an annual, and I just got it to add a splash of color and to accent the plant.

Very cool. Jenn

To underplant the tree.

Yup. Jenn

Mm-hmm.

Lucy

Matches perfectly.

Jenn

This is a perfect application for underplanting trees, just it will add a splash of color. You don't have to add any mulch, and it looks nice and full.

Lucy

How deep should they go down?

Jenn

So you want this level to be equal level of the existing soil.

Lucy

Okay.

Jenn

Thanks. Okay, so this is a semi-dwarf shrub. It's called a crepe myrtle. I typically think of it as a Southern plant, and the furthest I would plant it north is New York area.

Lucy

Okay.

Jenn

But it's going to display this beautiful color. It gets to be about 6 to 8 feet tall, but you could keep it pruned.

Lucy

Okay. I love that.

Jenn

How does that look?

Lucy

It's so beautiful in that.

Jenn

It really anchors the top of the steps.

Lucy

It does. It's so nice in that pot too.

Jenn

Okay, Lucy. These are low voltage LED lights.

Okay. Jenn

They're going to -- All you have to do is connect it to a transformer and place it in the soil, and it's going to -- It's going to illuminate and uplight this dogwood and really add some character and safety to the front of your house. The plants will grow around it, and then it will just illuminate.

It's going to be amazing. Lucy

So fun.

Jenn

You know, Lucy, I could really get used to this stoop life.

Lucy

Jenn, thank you so much for coming. This is a crazy transformation. It's so beautiful. It looked terrible with all the weeds.

Jenn

Yeah, the weeds were out of control, so that's what I want you to keep on top of,

weeding and watering. Lucy

Okay.

Jenn

And then just enjoy the stoop.

Lucy

Well, thanks for coming to Brooklyn.

Jenn

Thanks for having me.

Cheers. Lucy

Cheers.

Kevin

Nice transformation, Jenn.

Jenn

Thanks.

Kevin

Landscape lighting in a container on a Brooklyn stoop, probably not the first thing people think about, right?

Jenn

No, but it made such a dramatic difference. Just one fixture in each planter. And this is all low-voltage landscape lighting, and one transformer ran everything.

Kevin

Low voltage is easy to work with, right?

Heath

Much easier. Like, in a lot of cases for this, we'll have a plug-in transformer that's easy to install for anybody.

Yeah. Heath

They'll just plug into a receptacle that you already have outside. You can hang it on the side of the building or on a post. Simply connect your low-voltage cable inside, and it's just 12 volts coming out for the most part.

Kevin

And in this case, you're going to be -- you can have a timer to turn it on and off, or sometimes they've got a little --

Jenn

It's a photo cell, right?

Heath

Right, so you can have a couple of options. You can do them straight with a switch. You can do them with a timer. Some of them have them built in like this, and you have the option of a photocell on the side, so it will come on when it's dusk and turn off whenever you want.

Jenn

And you can also use an app now.

Kevin

To turn it on and off, right.

Jenn

Yeah,

to create a mood. Kevin

So we know that's easy, but most people probably think there's nothing easier than a sort of self-contained solar apparatus, right, which is --

Jenn

I mean, you could use those. It has a photo pack on top to absorb the sun, but --

Heath

It does light up.

Kevin

I can tell from the winces

that you guys don't like this. Jenn

Right. I would prefer this.

Kevin

Well, I mean, obviously this is a lot better looking...

Jenn

Right.

Kevin

...but as we just found out, this is not that hard to do with the low voltage.

Jenn

It really is not, and you don't have to bury the cables, the wire very low.

Heath

No, 4 to 6 inches below the finish is nice if you can get it.

Jenn

And if you nick it, you're not going to get hurt because it's low-voltage lighting.

Kevin

All right, well, like I said, good transformation, good information.

Jenn

Thank you.

Kevin

Inspectors from across the country continue to send us pictures of their worst nightmares, and we continue to have some fun with them. So did we get any good ones today?

Richard

Yes,

we did. Kevin

Oh, apparently we did.

Richard

We did.

Jenn

So this one, we have a cluster going on.

Richard

A cluster?

Jenn

A cluster.

Kevin

A cluster what?

Jenn

A cluster of mess.

Kevin

Oh,

okay. Jenn

So this one is -- this shrub, it maybe never got pruned. It's way too close to the house. Nothing can breathe, and we have a vine growing up. This is the new way to do rooftop gardens.

Richard

Do they always grow up? Do they ever grow down?

You love that. Tom

Geez.

Richard

Is there a Latin name for that?

Jenn

Yeah, it's a euonymus.

It looks like euonymus. Richard

E pluribus unum? Veni, vidi, vici?

Jenn

Yeah.

Tom

A euonymus?

Kevin

You want to miss.

You want to miss it. Kevin

I don't want to miss.

I don't want to miss. Jenn

Needs a little help.

Richard

Oh!

Tom

There you go.

Richard

This is right over a kitchen range hood.

Yup. Richard

Here's a hood. Here's the duct.

Kevin

Missed it by that much.

Tom

All they had to do was cut the hole over a little more, but they did a nice --

Richard

Right, or you could have just moved the stove.

Tom

Yeah, they could do that, but they did a nice job with the duct tape.

Jenn

The seal, it's like watertight.

Tom

Yeah. But look -- All right, so let's look.

Ohh. Tom

All right. There you go.

Fancy. Tom

Look at -- Different shades of roofing, different colors.

I mean... Kevin

Different styles.

Tom

And I think with the valley in there, the white...

Richard

Is that -- Those are white shingles?

Tom

Well, that looks like an acrylic coating, so obviously he got the shingles down. They look pretty good. They're different colors.

Yeah. Tom

But they didn't -- They were having a leak in the valley, so they probably covered it with an acrylic coat.

Richard

You know all that from just looking at the picture?

Tom

Yeah, I could tell.

Richard

You're like the shingle whisperer.

Tom

But this guy must be a roofer. These are all shingles left over from different jobs, and this might be his office.

Bring people in. Jenn

Maybe it's a showroom.

Tom

See, that's what that color will look like.

Kevin

Put some euonymus on that.

Richard

He promised that you couldn't see it

from the neighbor's house. Kevin

All right.

Tom

Well, it looks like the backyard.

Kevin

Well, you can tell we have fun with them, so if you've got pictures of your worst nightmare, send them in. We'd like a laugh.

Mark

During a home inspection, a wood-burning fireplace can cause a lot of concerns for a prospective home buyer, but it shouldn't. There are usually simple culprits causing malfunctions in a chimney that can easily be fixed. The first thing I look at is the back of the firebox. When a fireplace is working properly, the hottest point is going to be right down here at the bottom. It's going to burn off all the soot and leave you with this white semicircle. If the bottom center of the firebox is black with soot, the white hot spots are scattered, or there's soot on the lintel, which is right under the mantel, that means that smoke is rolling back into the fireplace from the chimney. There are a few ways to fix this. First, check the outside to see if there are any tree branches or other obstructions that could be restricting air flow near the chimney. If there are, you'll need to hire a landscaper to come out and cut them away, which can cost a few hundred dollars depending on the extent of the obstruction. If there isn't an outdoor obstruction, then it's possible that the chimney isn't tall enough to pull air out from the house. This would require raising the chimney a few feet, which, depending on your roof and chimney, could get expensive. However, a wood-burning fireplace without proper air flow shouldn't be a deal breaker. A temporary way to adjust for the chimney is to crack open a nearby window whenever you light a fire, and that way you'll introduce air elsewhere from the house. By doing that, you allow for more suction through the chimney to pull the smoke out. It's not the best solution, but it will work. Another thing I check for is the presence of creosote, which is a tar-like substance that forms on the inside of your chimney. It's no good because it can cause chimney fires, which are rare, but they can also be very dangerous because they can cause a whole house fire. Creosote usually forms when you burn pine, so FYI, don't burn pine in your fireplace. If you suspect that you have creosote in your chimney, or the home inspector has pointed it out to you, you can call a chimney sweep in for a few hundred bucks. They'll really clean it out. Some places sell cleaning logs that claim to burn off the creosote. That may work for small amounts. However, you're better off just hiring a chimney sweep so you know you've removed all the creosote from the entire chimney. Some inspectors will recommend that a chimney flue needs to be relined, but in my experience, it may not be necessary. Code requires that the flue of a chimney is surrounded by at least 8 inches of masonry, so the odds of it breaking down so much that it needs to be relined to prevent a house fire are slim. In general, don't let the concept of a wood-burning fireplace scare you. Fireplaces and chimneys were built to last. With a little bit of knowledge and the proper care, yours will work just fine.

Brian

Thank you, Heath, for coming over today, and welcome to our 1910 work in progress. There's a lot of quirks to this house, like this fireplace that we're just having a tough time really figuring out.

Heath

Sure.

Brian

This was one of the reasons that I actually wanted to buy the house. It came and it had a brick cover over it, and when I came down and I felt around it, removed it --

Heath

Oh, yeah. Look at that. It's actually wood.

Brian

Yeah, so we're thinking of doing a gas insert, but with the clearance with the houses being so close together, it wasn't an option, so I was thinking maybe electric, but it's been really hard to try to find a size

that would fit in this box. Heath

Sure. Well, it's a little bit of an unconventional opening in that size, but with the electric fireplaces where they come in fairly standard sizes, I think we can make some adjustments and make something work. Let me just grab some tools, and we'll get to work.

Brian

Great, awesome.

Heath

All right, Brian. So this is a unit I found that's going to fit into this space that we're looking for. The advantage to this particular unit is that it's zero clearance on the sides and back, so we can slide it into the existing wood frame that you have and not have any safety concerns.

Brian

Awesome.

Heath

It has a lot of good features in this unit. Use this remote control, it will show the LED screen

that simulates flames. Brian

Nice.

Heath

It has embers down bottom that will glow, and the really great thing that I think you're going to like is the heater up here. It has a fan forced heater up here that's actually capable of heating the room that we're in.

Brian

Awesome. I'm usually a miser with the thermostat, so I think my friends are going to love that.

Heath

Perfect. On top of that, we have the electrical connection in the back. The only issue we ran into is looking for the size, we had the width right, but we couldn't find something that would do the height as well.

Mm-hmm. Heath

So I have a thought. What do you think about doing a raised hearth to let this sit on it? We'll do something with a little bit of stone and wood,

make it look a little natural. Brian

Cool.

I'm excited. Let's go. Heath

All right.

Whirring

I'm excited. Let's go. Heath

So I'm making the box out of plywood and an oak face. We're going to use pocket screws to hold the assembly together, and that will support our stone.

Whirring

I'm excited. Let's go. Heath

Whirring

I'm excited. Let's go. Heath

So before we install the stone top on the base, I strung a wire from the basement up through the bottom of the box and into the back of the unit.

Brian

Got the wire.

Heath

All right. That should be good.

Brian

Cool.

Heath

All right. The adhesive's all set. Let's get ready to put the stone on.

Brian

Awesome. I'm loving the stone. Where did you get it?

Heath

Yeah, this is a great little piece. So a lot of people don't know that if you go to one of your local stone manufacturing yards around the area, a lot of times they have small pieces left over they're happy to sell, you know, cut it to what you need. You can give them a template or a measurement and get a piece for a reasonable price.

That's awesome. Heath

All right.

Brian

That looks fantastic.

Heath

Now we'll just connect the wire we just ran to the back of the unit.

Whirring

Heath

All right. Let's put the glass on. All right. Everything's tied into the basement. Would you like to do the honors?

Brian

Yes, I would. Thank you.

Beeps

Brian

Oh! That's amazing.

Heath

Yeah, it really looks great. The nice thing about the LED screen broadcasting the flames like that is you can actually change the color, so you can go down to more of a blue tint or the yellow.

Brian

Oh, that's awesome.

Beeping

Heath

And the other great feature of this unit is it does have the built-in heater, so we can run just a blower, low heat or high heat to kind of help keep the room

in the wintertime. Brian

Perfect. That will make everyone happy when they come in.

Good to hear. Brian

Awesome.

All right. Brian

Thank you so much. You really transformed this space.

It looks amazing. Heath

I really appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Kevin

Next time on "Ask This Old House"...

Mark

There are a ton of different masonry trowels out there. I'll tell you which does what.

Kevin

This one's from London. Where is this guy from?

Mark

That guy is a Philadelphia trowel.

Kevin

Seriously?

Heath

If you have an old house and want a new light, it may not be an easy swap.

Tom

And this storage shelf can hold all of your tools and the parts to go with them, and I'll show you how to build it.

Okay. Tom

All right. Want to flip it over? We get the back on. All right.