Ask This Old House

Kevin

Today on "Ask This Old House"...

Jenn

I'll show you how to design and plant a terrace garden. I wanted to find the entrance to the stairs, so I'm going to mirror the same plants on both sides and give it a nice, symmetrical look.

Tom

And in Chattanooga, a team of women show other women how to repair and build things around their house, like this footstool. They'll show me and you how to build it.

Whirring

Belinda

The way I teach the people to use it is basically to use your body weight. Get a good stance, plant yourself, and take control of the wood, and then you don't feel intimidated doing it.

Tom

That's right.

Bea

So, welcome to Chattanooga, the scenic city.

Tom

Well, thank you, Bea, and I think this is the first time that I've been in Chattanooga, and I got to say -- this is a lovely old town,

very quaint. Bea

It is.

Tom

So, I understand you're doing some pretty interesting things here.

Bea

Yeah, we're partnering with women contractors

of different kind... Tom

Mm-hmm.

Bea

...who have lots of different skill sets. We have workshops that teach women basic home repair, home improvement, and auto maintenance skills. And we do it in a safe and supportive environment so that women feel very comfortable asking any question, and they're not afraid to make mistakes because mistakes is how we learn.

Tom

That's great. So, how did you decide to get into this?

Bea

Well, when I was 10 years old, 50 years ago, my father was redoing our family basement, and I went downstairs and asked him if I could help, and my dad said to me, he goes, "You're a girl, and girls don't need to learn this stuff."

Tom

Really? That's sad you never got to experience working with your hands at a young age.

Bea

Yeah, and it just really pointed out through the years the inequity in the female space. We're independent in so many other ways, but why is it that we're in 2019 now, that women don't have those basic skills? And some do,

but most don't. Tom

Right, right.

Bea

It's a way to save money, be independent, gain confidence. So that's what we're doing.

Tom

So have you got anything back at the shop that you can show me?

Bea

I do. You gonna come and see?

Lead the way. Bea

Okay.

Tom

Wow,

this is a great space. Bea

Thank you. We do lots of our workshops here.

Tom

Mm-hmm.

Bea

This is Belinda Harford, who's one of our instructors.

Tom

Hi,

Belinda. Belinda

Hi.

Pleased to meet you. Tom

Pleased to meet you.

Belinda

Thank you. Yeah, I teach a couple classes for Bea, and this is one of the tuffet classes that I taught a couple of weeks ago.

Tom

A tuffet. I know little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet.

Belinda

Well, in Australia, we call it a tuffet. You call it a...?

Footstool. Belinda

That's right.

Tom

What are we using for material?

Belinda

Well, some of the materials we're going to use is a half-inch plywood, birch plywood. You can buy it from any hardware store, and then we're also gonna use some ready-made wooden legs.

Tom

Those look like oak.

Belinda

That's correct, and it's bought from any hardware store or craft store you can buy it from as well. After we do the woodworking part, we're going to swap over to the fabric part, where we're going to do the upholstery, and you can use any upholstery fabric to your liking, and that's what we're going to end up with. Are you game?

Tom

I'm game. So why don't we move some of this stuff out of the way and we can get going?

Belinda

Wonderful. To start with, we're going to have the board that's going to form the base of the tuffet. We're going to find the center of the board by drawing two diagonal lines with a T-square that will meet, and where they cross, that will be the center of the board. So, I'm going to set a nail, and that's going to act as a pivot point to draw my circle. I want an 18-inch circle, so I'm going to have a 9-inch radius, and I'm going to make a few marks. These are just going to be reference points to draw my circle. Make sure I stay on my 9-inch.

Tom

That's a great trick.

Whirring

Tom

So, a lot of people would probably be intimidated by using a band saw.

Belinda

Yeah, it might look intimidating, but it is stationary, and the way I teach the people to use it is basically to use your body weight. Get a good stance, plant yourself, and take control of the wood and use your body weight to sort of steer it, and then you don't feel intimidated doing it.

Tom

That's right.

Belinda

Okay, so, now what we're going to do is we're going to do placement for the legs. And to do that, we're just going to take one of the legs. What I normally do is I just put it down. I eyeball sort of where I want it. Once I'm happy, I'm going to make a little mark.

Tom

Okay.

Belinda

And that's going to be my reference point, so I'm going to measure that distance, and I'm going to mark it on all four lines.

Okay. Belinda

Okay. So, now what we're going to do is we're going to drill little holes on the marks that I've done according to the size of the T-nut.

Whirring

Okay. Belinda

So, now we're going to use some T-nuts over here. The shaft has got a thread, and that thread matches the feet. There's also little barbs around it that you're going to drive into the wood, and the function of the barbs is to keep it from turning and also to keep it in position. Okay, so, there we have the T-nuts in. On the other side, that's where we're going to put the little feet in there, and they screw in like that.

Tom

Yeah, and they hold nice and tight.

Belinda

Yeah, they do. But I'm not going to put them in right now 'cause we still want to stain the little feet.

Tom

I like the color of the stain.

Belinda

It is beautiful.

Tom

It's amazing how the stain really changes the look of the wood.

Belinda

I know. Okay, so, now we're going to look at all the different pieces that we're going to use to put the tuffet together for the upholstery part. First,

we have the base. Tom

Yeah.

Belinda

On top of the base, we will use the foam.

Tom

It's got a memory on it too.

Belinda

It does. It's really high-density. So, it's cut to size. You can order it from an upholster, and you can see the little bit of imperfections around here, and that's where we're going to use the padding.

Tom

And what's that for?

Belinda

So, the padding is going to go over it to hide the imperfections, give it a nice, round feel and round it off better. That's going to wrap around the base as well.

Tom

Very nice.

Belinda

After that, we use the upholstery fabric that's going to go right over it. It's going to cover the wood at the bottom, as well the base. You're going to tack that down, and then, to cover the base again, we're going to use the bull denim cut to a circle from the bottom.

Tom

So, that's going to hide all of the pieces that you wrap around underneath to attach.

That's correct. Tom

Perfect.

Belinda

So now we can go over and we can start cutting everything into a circle. I'm going to start with the bull denim over here. Very easy way to cut into a circle is basically just to fold it into a sort of a triangle. Okay, so, now what we're going to do is we're just going to make some little marks, a 9 inches radius.

Tom

Oh, I see what you're doing.

Belinda

Yeah, it's a very easy way of getting, like, a quarter of a circle. When you cut it and open it, you have a perfect circle.

Tom

Are you going to cut it with the scissors?

Belinda

I'm actually not. I'm going to use a rotary cutter. And you cut straight through all the layers.

Tom

Look at that. That's pretty cool.

Belinda

Yeah. When you open it up, you have a perfect circle.

Tom

Perfect.

Belinda

So, now what we're going to do is we take the scissor and make little nips, and what the nips are going to do is, once we're done around the circle, we're going to fold it over, and we're going to iron it, so those little nips are going to spin into the inside, and you still have a perfect circle once you iron it.

Tom

Perfect, alright.

Belinda

So, now what we're going to do -- exactly the same with this fabric. The only difference is this circle needs to be bigger. So you need the 9 inches. You need for the side as well and a little bit to warp around.

Tom

Hmm, those are hard to see.

Belinda

It is a little bit hard to see, but I've got a good imagination.

Laughing

Tom

Really liking that tool.

Belinda

I do. So easy to use. Perfect, straight through all the layers, and there we have our circle when we open it.

Tom

Great.

Belinda

And that's what we're going to use

to cover all the film with. Tom

Okay.

Belinda

Now I'm going to cut the padding exactly the same -- in a circle. There you go. That's perfect. Got a circle there. Okay, so now what we're going to do is we're going to use an adhesive spray. I'm going to spray the foam as well as the base. I'm going to put them together. It's not really sticking it together. It's just keeping it in position so when I work with the fabric, everything stays together.

Tom

Makes sense.

Belinda

Okay, so now what we're going to do is we're going to start using the padding, and we're going to use an upholstery thread -- very, very strong. What I'm going to do is I'm going to thread it around here just like a thread stitch, and pull it in so it wraps

around the foam. Tom

Oh, okay. So it's almost like a drawstring on a hoodie.

Belinda

Exactly. So, it pulls it in, and you have your even little plates. And I'm just going to tack it down a few places.

Clicks

Belinda

Let's thread it over here some more.

Clicking

Belinda

Here we go. And now we can start with this fabric. I'm not going to do anything else but just putting it on top of here and flip it over, and then we're going to start working. And I'm just going to tack it down in the four corners, which is four places, and then I'm going to work in each quarter to make my little pleats evenly. I like to always have the staple gun to the inside so it's on a flat surface.

Clicks

Belinda

There we go.

Clicks

Belinda

And then you're going to start tacking down.

Clicks

Clicks

Tom

Now I just fold it in.

Belinda

That looks good. There we go.

Clicks

Belinda

Now we're going to take the bull denim that we ironed earlier and we're going to tack that in position.

Clicking

Belinda

Okay, so, now what we do is we find you just feel with your fingers where the T-nuts are, and you make little holes with the screwdriver, and then you just take the lid and you screw it in there.

Tom

Yeah, those T-nuts really hold well.

Belinda

Oh, they're so strong. Okay, so, there we go.

We tightened the last leg. Tom

Okay.

Belinda

It's all done, nice and tight. Let's make sure it's nice and tight. And then we're going to flip it over and have a look.

There we go. Tom

That looks nice.

Belinda

Beautiful.

Tom

I like the nice, simple look of it.

Belinda

Yeah, a lot of people like the simplicity. I'm all for detail.

Both laugh

Belinda

I would add some trimming. You can either put it there, you can put it at the bottom, with some decorative nails.

Tom

Well, I really like the fact that you're teaching people how to do these kind of projects, and this is a great little project to get you starting with upholstery, so if somebody wants to do the dining room chairs or the kitchen chairs, they have the basics and they can do it themselves.

Belinda

Exactly. Very basic but it's a good start, and you can go very far with it.

Tom

Well, thank you for teaching me.

Belinda

You're welcome. I had a blast.

Hi. Jenn

Hi, T'sera.

T'sera

Jenn,

nice to meet you. Jenn

Nice to meet you.

Welcome. Jenn

Thank you. I was so excited to get your e-mail. Jamaica Plain is beautiful.

T'sera

Yeah, it's one of the reasons we love this neighborhood. When the house came on the market a couple of years ago, we immediately jumped on the opportunity. It was a little house, a little bit rough around the edges, so we spent most of those last couple of years doing a big addition in the back and cleaning some other stuff up inside, but in the process, we also managed to destroy a lot of the area immediately around the back of the house. We've got some hardscaping in thus far, but we could really use your help with the actual plantings.

Jenn

Well, I'd love to help with that 'cause I know landscaping is always last,

so let's go take a look. T'sera

Alright.

Jenn

Wow, what an incredible backyard. You definitely don't see yards like this in Boston.

T'sera

Yeah, it's a pretty unique space. So, there are some really beautiful gardens around our neighborhood that are kind of like a seasonal symphony where there are blooms coming up from May all the way into the fall. I've seen some things that I liked and picked some stuff up from our local garden store, but now I'm a little bit uncertain as to how to arrange them to achieve that kind of effect in our own yard, so I'm hoping you can bring your expertise here and help me re-create that in our own yard.

Jenn

Well, it's one of my most favorite things to do. I really love how you have a flat surface patio up top, and then the terrace is a perfect transition to your backyard. It allows for a more level area back here, and I'm going to combine plants that I brought and combine them with the ones you brought, and then we're gonna stage them and see what we can do for your garden.

T'sera

Alright, sounds good.

Jenn

Alright, so let's start laying them out.

T'sera

Great.

Jenn

Okay, so, I got these grasses. These are Miscanthus grasses, otherwise known as maiden grass. They get about five feet tall and act as a great backdrop to these planters.

T'sera

Okay, great. That's gonna look really nice in the fall and also help to cover up some of this fence space too.

Jenn

Since terraces already have a lot of height in their structure, I want to keep most of the taller plants like that butterfly bush in the lower planters. I want to define the entrance to the stairs so I'm going to mirror the same plants on both sides and give it a nice, symmetrical look. So, you already have a rose planted here. I'm going to play off that with some salvia and echinacea, and that's gonna provide a ton of color. Perfect. I like repeating elements throughout the garden because it makes it feel more cohesive. Looks good. For the front, I want to add something that will creep over and soften the edges of the planter, so I'll put hens and chicks on one side and thyme on the other. For the upper terrace, I don't want to obstruct your view of the backyard from the patio, so I've picked all short perennials for this space. I like to work in plants like this astilbe because it has beautiful foliage and will be interesting to look at, even when it's done flowering. You don't get a lot of sun under this hemlock tree, so it's important to use plants that are shade-tolerant. Okay, can you hand me one of the purple ones? There's five of them.

T'sera

Okay, and what is it called?

Jenn

This one's called cimicifuga brunette, otherwise known as snakeroot.

T'sera

Alright, snakeroot is definitely a little easier to remember.

Jenn

I chose this one for the foliage and also because it has this amazing purple spiked white flower in late August, September. That is a bleeding heart. I'm thinking that would look really nice right here at the edge of the bed.

T'sera

Okay.

Jenn

Alright, this one is called baptisia or false indigo, and I'm gonna put it right here to anchor this corner. Right here. Those are Japanese painted ferns. Why don't we put those under the base of the tree?

T'sera

I have these pallets, I think, of vine that I got.

Jenn

Let's space those 4 to 6 inches apart. A nice trick with these -- if you just squish them to kind of help them pop out.

T'sera

Okay.

Jenn

Oh, they will come out by themselves. You might have to just dump the whole lot out. Right here. I love it. Okay, so, this is why I like to stage plants so you know where they're going before you put them in the ground.

T'sera

Yeah, I can really see what you were going for now.

It looks great. Jenn

Awesome. Well, it's time to get some shovels and let's get digging.

T'sera

Alright.

Jenn

You should dig a whole that's about twice as wide and just as deep as the root ball of the plant.

Laughing

Jenn

It's also good to tease the roots a little bit before you put the plants into the ground so it doesn't grow around the plant. It'll reach out into the soil.

T'sera

Everything looks incredible.

Jenn

So, what I want you to do for every day for the next two weeks, water, water, water.

T'sera

Got it.

Jenn

And then just follow the rain patterns to see what you need to do.

T'sera

Okay. We promise to take good care of everything. Really, this has been incredible. Thank you so much for your help, Jenn.

Jenn

Hey, no problem. Nice to meet you.

Cantilever over. Tom

Yeah. I mean, you can also enlarge the beam a little bit too.

Kevin

What are you guys talking about?

Nathan

Oh, I was just asking Tommy how he bids a job and ensures the homeowner has some realistic expectations on a job.

Yeah. Tom

Yeah.

Kevin

Good information for you. Good information for the homeowners too, though, right? I mean, listen, there's a lot of anxiety on a homeowner's part when they're hiring a contractor.

Tom

Exactly. It doesn't matter how big or small the job is. The homeowner should do their research, whether or not they're picking out a door or whether or not they're adding an addition or building a house.

Kevin

So how do you do the research? I mean, are you talking about surfing the Web? Are you making phone calls? Are you asking neighbors?

Tom

You talk to architects. You talk to friends that have had work done. I mean, the Web gives you all kinds of great information for ideas.

Nathan

Some of the smaller jobs, you can go to the home center, walk around the aisles. You can see how easy it is for materials to add up on a job.

Kevin

Yeah, just get a sense of what things cost.

Nathan

Mm-hmm.

Tom

So, let's think about a door that a homeowner wants to change, an exterior door. They want to make a 3 foot, make it a 6 foot or an 8 or a 10, whatever. You got to think about what's that opening gonna carry. That beam up top has got to be sized right to carry that load. Then you got to make sure that when you're putting that door in, the opening is flashed correctly from the bottom up because if that door or window leaks, the homeowner's first gonna blame the window manufacturer or the door manufacturer, but if the builder eliminates flashing and does it wrong because maybe the price is too low, it's usually the installer's fault.

Nathan

Then there's all the stuff behind the scenes from there. Show up, measure the door, go place the order for the door, pick it up, so there's a lot of costs acquired before I even cut into it.

Kevin

Thousand-dollar job. Hey, Richard.

Richard

Sounds like I'm missing a good conversation.

Yeah. Kevin

This has got to be a problem for you all the time, right?

Richard

An established company in my trade, it's also an overhead issue. How do you get licensed guys that you insure them, you got the trucks, you got to have inventory on, you got to get them to training. Everything's getting so technical.

That has to be paid for somehow. Kevin

That's a good point. So if a guy is off at a conference being trained, he's not at a house making you money.

Richard

There's an expense to it. I used to run a tape, and I'd be surprised at the costs, and the homeowners would say, "Why is it so much?" And I'd say, "It's really what it's gonna take for us to put the right people on your project."

And it's unbelievable. Tom

Well, I mean, it's crazy. You can get estimates that are all over the place. You can get an estimate that's really low. You can get one that's maybe acceptable, and you got one that's really high. Well, maybe the guy that's really high really doesn't need or want the job, but if he gets it, okay. But there's a couple of guys in the middle. They're pricing it the way they should. But you got to make sure the guy with the low bid --

Kevin

What's the deal with the low bid? I mean, it's out there, right, so the guy's gonna do it for that number. What's not in a low bid?

Richard

A lot. People think they can take the lowest bid and it's gonna have all the same stuff in it that you guys would have in there, and it just can't be. There's an economic law there that says it can't. Many times the low-bid guy gets there and then they're gonna do it with change orders, and you have all these change orders that you end up paying just as much as you would've with the high or the middle bid. So I used to say I'd rather see you, as a homeowner, wince in pain once because it was more than you expected to pay, but then thank me every single spring, summer, fall, and winter when it was perfect temperature in the building

or the plumbing worked right. Tom

Yeah, that's so true. More than likely, that low bid is gonna end up, in the long run, costing you more money with problems that you have with that window or getting it replaced later.

Richard

Hey,

Mark. Kevin

Buyer beware. Mark, you must have some war stories about this whole conversation.

Mark

I don't mean to eavesdrop, but it's a great conversation. And from my end, people don't consider weather. I should say they consider it, but they don't consider it enough. If I lose a day to rain, that sets me back a day. Sometimes I go inside to keep the guys busy, so now when I get back outside, they don't realize that one day could turn into two,

two could turn into three. Kevin

Right.

Tom

Rain's a big deal. Think about rain. If you're doing a slab or you're trying to do a brick wall, you can't.

Mark

Well, the phrase is "we can't play in the rain." So, we can use tarps, but sometimes that's not gonna help, so if we lose a day, we lose a day, and the real detriment to the job is when I lose a day, if I don't have the steps in the walkway in, that's gonna hold up the landscaper.

Tom

Everybody else gets pushed back.

Mark

Everybody gets pushed back.

Tom

That's so true. Working in the winter is a big deal. We got to have heat in certain situations. You can't dry the plaster in a cold building.

That's right. Tom

You can't paint the walls.

Mark

People don't realize that it's too hot on certain days. The mortar doesn't set up the way it's supposed to, so you got to cancel the day. And the other thing, Tom, as you know, is material. I mean, depending on what people order, trucking is a bear right now, so anytime people have to get something trucked to them, the delays are really out of your control. That's another thing they should understand.

Richard

Watch out for change orders.

Kevin

Oh,

man. Tom

Yeah. There's four most expensive words in construction -- "while you're at it."

Richard

That's right. And then, when they order something on the change order, then you got to worry about lead times. Plumbing fixtures now are coming from all over the planet, and you got to chase them down, and now, all of a sudden you can't finish the job.

Tom

I always tell the homeowners have a backup. If you pick a tile that you really like and it's custom, get another one ready in case you can't get that tile.

Nathan

So it's good for homeowners to ask questions and do their homework.

Kevin

Alright, good information for the homeowners. Maybe it demystifies the process just a little bit.

Richard

Hope so.

Kevin

Alright, guys, well, good information. Thank you, and good show. Next time on "Ask This Old House"...

Man

These light switches don't match the character of the house. And this dimmer is upside down, but I have a solution for that.

Ross

In "Future House," I'll see how geothermal is becoming more affordable for the average homeowner.

Man

So, one of the steps that we've done right off the bat is standardize a lot of the way that we design and engineer the systems, so we use design software to size the system to the home and make it the appropriate size.