This Old House

Kevin

Today on "This Old House"...

Tom

Have you ever heard of a fireback? Well, Joe and Liz found a unique way to use one in their kitchen.

Roger

It's time to bring back the beauty of this old landscape.

Kevin

Wow. Jeff, what am I looking at here?

Jeff

110-year-old reclaimed oak.

Kevin

What happened to all this plumbing here?

Richard

I've never seen anything like this before.

Roger

There's already rot going on in that trunk.

Kevin

So what have you found up here?

Tom

Well, a bit of a surprise.

Richard

It's really the classic plumber's lament.

Kevin

Nice! Nice!

Tom

It is right on.

Kevin

A family that paints together stays together. Nice job, guys.

Richard

Where will a slab like this be used?

The money's in the detail. -Richard

Oh, that is beautiful.

Kevin

Hi, there. I'm Kevin O'Connor, and welcome back to "This Old House" where we are down to the final week of construction here on our Newton, Massachusetts, house, and that means that our crew has stepped it up into high gear.

Door opens

Kevin

Well, you can see that the floors have all been refinished. In fact, over the weekend, these got their final coat of urethane. They look beautiful. The painters are here putting some of the finishing touches on the various walls and the trim.

And we've got Tommy and Charlie in the kitchen. -Hey,

guys. -Tom

Hey, Kevin.

Kevin

Putting up a final detail behind where the stove is going to go. And look at this.

Tom

Yes. This is called a fireback.

Kevin

So, I remember Joe and Liz sort of came up with the design themselves. I think they actually found it online and ordered it, right?

Tom

Yeah, you're right. And it's a pretty heavy piece of cast iron. Look at that detail.

Kevin

So, a lot of beautiful detail, and they were giving me the history of it. I guess back in the day, these things were inserted in wood fireplaces and they protect the material on the back of the box.

Tom

Right. It's like a cast-iron radiator. When they get hot, they radiate heat. Well, the fire heats this up and disperses that heat for quite a while.

Kevin

Awesome. So, in this case, we're going to use it on the wall behind the stove.

You've got a tile there but -- -Tom

Yep.

Kevin

Whoa, that thing is a beast, huh? This is going to be interesting to see you guys get this in.

Tom

Yeah, it is going to be a trick. It is a bit heavy. I think this thing weighs 50, 60 pounds.

Kevin

So, what is the process for making sure that it stays where you put it?

Tom

Well, we're actually going to use this flexible adhesive right here. We just want to put some big globs in each corner because it's pretty uneven.

Kevin

So it looks like a big bunch of cookie dough. And flexible because a lot of temperature change?

Tom

Well, you get temperature change. It's going to move back and forth with the temperature change, and you want to make sure that it's going to stick.

Kevin

Boy, I would think with something that's 50 or 60 pounds that you'd need something mechanical like a bracket or a cleat or some screws, but no?

Tom

No, this stuff is really strong, Kevin. Adhesives today are really amazing. So, we get that on there like that. I'm going to get it all over me and everything else.

So now what we've got to do is we're going to try to pick it up. We got it in the right orientation?

Yep. -Tom

Yep.

Laughs

Charlie

That would be funny upside down.

Tom

So, we're going to put it in, and we've got a couple of wedges on the bottom to give us a grout line. And we put this cement board on the back as a filler, but also a good sticking point. It'll just stick right in there. We can center it.

How's it look on that side? Looks pretty good. All right. We got the fillers down here.

I think it's good. All right. We'll put a couple of sticks in to hold it into position where this dries. All right.

That's good. All right, so this is just a temporary brace right now to hold it till the adhesive dries.

Drill whirs

Tom

Good. Now I just put a couple of shims up against it. Don't need much. Okay.

So, that's good. We'll leave that for about 24 hours. And around the perimeter, we don't want to grout because the expansion and contraction could be different, so we're actually going to use a flexible caulking the color of the grout.

Kevin

And this is just for show, right? Unlike your original firebacks, we're not protecting from heat, we're not radiating anything.

Tom

Right. It's not going to get that bad.

Kevin

It's a darn good idea, and i think it looks terrific. All right. Thanks, guys.

Tom

All right.

Kevin

Eight months ago, Roger uprooted some roses from the job site. They were sentimental to Liz, and she didn't want them to get trampled during construction. So Roger took them offsite to care for them, and today, they are coming back.

Hey Liz. -Liz

Hey, Kevin. How are you?

Kevin

All right. So, you happy to see the roses -back on the property?

Liz

I sure am. Roger did a great job of babysitting them.

Kevin

It's amazing that he can do that for you. So obviously, these have sentimental value to you.

Liz

They do. Roses were my mom's favorite, and they were here growing up, they always bloomed on my birthday, and they really remind me of her.

Kevin

That's awesome.

Liz

And I actually have a photo of us...

Kevin

Oh,

look at this. -Liz

...in front of the roses.

Kevin

You, Mom, the roses here against the fence.

Yep. -Kevin

That's awesome. So, they're saved, and they're going back.

Liz

Yep.

Kevin

You've got a little spot right here. You picked out where everything goes, roses, as well as the other plants?

Liz

Yes. Mostly -- All the roses go along this fence here.

Kevin

Nice.

Liz

And then there's lilacs throughout the yard, which were her other favorite flower, so...

Kevin

Well, I love to see the fact that you are throwing in. Roger has put you to work, so I'll let you do that,

and I'll catch up with Roger. -Liz

Great.

Kevin

Hey Roger, you've got yourself an army back here

working with you. -Roger

I sure do. I have a whole bunch of students from Minuteman High School and their department of horticulture and plant sciences. Down here in the corner, we have a rhody going in. The one thing we're going to notice, when we take these out......see how tight the root ball is?

We want to go through and just score that, loosen it up. This plant's going to get 6 to 8 feet tall and have beautiful pink flowers on it. All right, let's set that in. Now, how's that look for the face?

Man

I think it looks pretty good.

Roger

All right. I always like to turn the best side out to where we're going to see it from. Now, I want to check the height and make sure that the root ball is just an inch or two higher than the surrounding ground, and that's perfect right there. All right, take and fill in around it.

We're going to make, like, a little dam all the way around the outside because we're going to fill this with water and it'll settle all the soil down in, okay?

Man

Okay.

Roger

You want to take care of this, and I'll go check on the other guys?

Man

Yeah, no problem.

Roger

All right. Well, this is a hydrangea. It gets 2 to 3 feet tall. It flowers from spring to fall with a reddish purple flower.

The hole's really wide enough. We don't want to go too deep. That's perfect. It's gonna be right about there.

I think it's probably going to be like this. -How's that look to you?

Woman

It looks good.

Roger

Okay. Let's take and fill it right in, then. That looks great. Just get it all -- Make a little dam around the edge to hold water, and we'll be in good shape.

How are you guys doing?

Good. -Woman

Good.

Roger

Remember, not deep -- wide is the secret to a good planting, okay?

Woman

Okay.

Kevin

Roger, this corner was looking a little bare since you took that maple tree down, but clearly, you've got a plan to fill it in.

Roger

I do, Kevin. We're going to use three fruit trees to redo this corner.

Kevin

This one here is a peach. What are the other two?

Roger

We've got a mac and a granny smith.

Kevin

Two apples and a peach. I love it. And this is great -- shipped to you in a box. That's something.

Roger

I've had plants shipped to me in a box before, but they're always bare root. This one came in a container with the soil, and it's all ready to go in the ground.

Kevin

Pretty tall, too.

Roger

Came all the way up from South Carolina.

Kevin

No kidding. So, no problem with these? Everything's gonna make it?

Roger

Follow the directions, and they'll grow like crazy.

Kevin

All right, well, you've got a lot of work left to do, but you've got the crew for it. So, I've got an appointment inside. I'll leave you to it.

Roger

You're always inside.

Kevin

Oh, it's warm in there, pal.

Laughs

Kevin

On the perimeter of the kitchen, Joe and Liz chose a dark quartz for the counter top. It's a nice, hard, durable surface. But on the island, they wanted something a little softer and a little bit more of a natural look. So they've been working with the builder of our idea house, Jeff Sweenor.

Jeff, how are you?

Jeff

Kevin, how are you?

Kevin

Joe, good to see you. Riley. So, this is what you've been fabricating? And this -- Boy, it's covered up.

We've got the big reveal today.

Big reveal. -Kevin

Can we have a look?

Jeff

All right Joe, this is you.

All right. -Kevin

Wow.

Joe

Oh, that looks awesome.

Kevin

Holy smoke. Jeff, what am I looking at here?

Jeff

So, you're looking at 110-year-old reclaimed oak. Came out of a barn in Ohio.

Kevin

That is spectacular.

Jeff

And we milled it up into -- it's about seven or eight pieces. We glued it, clamped it up, and then we brought some samples up for Joe and Liz to choose their finish on.

Kevin

Yep.

Jeff

We selected provincial, I think the color was.

Kevin

Yep.

Jeff

And so we stained it, and then we had to apply some epoxy to fill all of the things that are characteristic about this wood but we didn't want food falling in. So, the epoxy fills in all of the voids, but it still gives the look. and then we have seven coats of urethane on top of that.

Kevin

That's awesome.

Jeff

Everything is food friendly.

Kevin

This just came in. Are you ready to install?

Jeff

We're ready to go. All right, first thing we're going to do is we're going to put some silicone on, seal this countertop down. All right, let's put it back into place and space it right back where we had it. All right, Joe, you're in charge.

Joe

All right.

Jeff

One inch off the edge of the counter. You like that Joe?

Looks good. -Jeff

All right. All right, we're lined up across the front. Okay. We're going to fasten.

We're going to pre-drill a pilot hole into the countertop. Now, we're going to put a 2-inch screw into the underside of the countertop. Okay. That should do it.

Kevin

All right Joe, dying to hear. -What do you think?

Joe

This is awesome. I mean, this is what we started with in the kitchen. It was the inspiration for the whole thing, and we built everything else around it. And this looks fantastic.

-Thanks,

guys. -Jeff

Good to hear.

Kevin

Sounds like a happy customer. All right, Riley, Jeff, thanks so much for being on our job site this time.

Jeff

See ya.

Kevin

You know the house is close to completion when the garage door is getting installed. And Russell Madden is our installation expert. -Russell,

good to see you. -Russell

Good to see you.

Kevin

So, this is a big opening, right?

Russell

It is. So it's 16 wide by 7 foot 6 high.

Kevin

Big enough for two cars to come through there. And what are you putting in for the homeowner?

Russell

So, we're putting in a steel insulated garage door with a black overlay on the front of it.

Kevin

So we like the steel. Nice and sturdy. We like the insulation, as well, because we've got heat in this garage. Gonna try to keep it temperate.

-And a single door?

Russell

Single door.

Kevin

That's a big, heavy door. How are we opening and closing that?

Russell

It's a heavy door. The springs pretty much do all the work, but then we have a 3/4 horse belt-driven motor that's gonna help lift and close the door.

Kevin

And we've got options, right? We could do belts, or is chains a possibility, too?

Russell

We can do belt or chain, but because we have a living space upstairs, the belt's definitely this better option because it's gonna be quieter.

Kevin

Nice and smooth. All right. So, I see you've got the panels set up. These go together, and we put it in.

We do. -Kevin

Let's get to work.

Russell

All right. Just stay behind you. Right now, we're just centering the door in the opening. Bring our tracks over the rollers here.

And then push that into the jamb. I'll take this wood lag, and I'll put it inside a track bolt here. That'll hold the section in place for now. And now we're going to prep the other panel.

So now that we have our three sections together, we've got to take the level and level the door out. It's actually pretty level right there. And now we're going to take our horizontal track. Brett is gonna attach it in the front, and I'm gonna make sure it's level out here in the back.

Kevin

Got to go to my left a little bit. Right there. Good.

Russell

So up next, we're going to grab this torsion spring, and we're going to throw it up, and that will take the weight of the door, basically.

Kevin

And the torsion spring is designed to kind of resist and contract on the twist as opposed to the pull.

Russell

Exactly. As the door is going up and down. So, we'll have 8.75 turns on this spring.

Kevin

'Cause how heavy is this door, roughly?

Russell

It's 450 pounds, roughly.

Kevin

So, you've got close to 400 pounds of torque on this spring when you're done.

Russell

Correct.

Kevin

So, a lot of tension on that. And now a set screw to hold it in place?

Russell

Correct. Just going to line up the front of this motor up here with the pin.

Brett

And now we're going to install the safeties on the bottom.

Kevin

All right, hit it. Look at that, huh? Nice and smooth. Quiet, too.

And that thing is lifting a 16-foot door like it is nothing, huh?

it is. -Kevin

Well, nice job, guys. The homeowners are going to be really psyched to see that.

Thank you. -Kevin

Thank you, guys.

Russell

All right.

Kevin

We followed all the preparation for our wood stove, and it was actually quite extensive. We reframed the floor in this corner, poured a concrete slab, and on top of it, we've got this giant piece of granite. And then Liz actually helped Mark Ferrante put in this marble tile that's got this beautiful, printed design on it all in preparation for this beauty right here. And the big day, Joe.

This has got to get you excited.

Joe

Hey, Kevin. Yeah, this is our soapstone wood stove. We're really excited about it.

She's a beauty. -Joe

Yeah.

Kevin

And why the soapstone choice?

Joe

Well, the soapstone has a lot of mass, so it holds a lot of heat, and it radiates it really nicely. But it also just looks great. We love the way this looks.

Kevin

It really does. That's a beauty. All right, so Jonathan, you're back to help us. And I saw you fussing with the back of this here.

What were you working on on the back?

Jonathan

So, what we've got here, Kevin, is we started with an adapter into the back of the stove itself for our exhaust. Then we've installed a heat shield, which is going to allow us to get much closer to those inside corners than without. We also added a fresh air intake to supply the stove with air directly from the outdoors.

Kevin

Intake's a nice choice, right?

Joe

Yeah, the house is so well insulated and so well sealed that we'd much rather pull in cold air from outside to burn, rather than pulling in warm air from inside

and creating a vacuum. -Kevin

Okay. So, where do we get started with you?

Jonathan

First, we get started with a little heavy lifting.

Kevin

I can do that.

Jonathan

Watch your fingers. All right. So, now that we've got the stove roughly in place, what we're going to do is start by mocking the chimney up. With a heat shield, we're actually allowed to get 12 inches from each corner here.

Plenty there. -Jonathan

We've got 15. 15 here. And now what we're going to end up doing is we'll figure out where our fresh air is going through the outdoors. We'll get that mocked up.

All right, so now we've got a masonry drill bit to go through our cement siding on the outside. Just drilling through.

Kevin

All right. That's it. We're through.

Jonathan

Now we can go through and we cut our holes. We can lift the assembly in place, make our final connections.

Joe

What do you think?

Jonathan

I think it looks good. Should keep you warm all winter long.

Kevin

This makes you excited, doesn't it?

Joe

Yeah, I'm super excited about this.

Kevin

All right. Couple weeks, you'll have a real fire.

All right. -Kevin

Thank you, Jonathan. That thing looks awesome.

Richard

Several months ago, I went on a shopping spree with the homeowners up to New Hampshire at one of those salvage places. They were looking for a claw-foot tub like this. Now, they found the right one, but it had a couple of issues with it. So, we brought it to a place like this that refinishes cast-iron bathtubs.

Jonathan and Steve are helping us today. Hey, guys.

Jonathan

Hi. How are you, Richard?

Nice to see you. -Jonathan

Good to see you.

Richard

Now, these big, old, cast-iron tubs. It's a hunk of cast iron with porcelain on the outside. People love them because it's a nice, deep bathing tub.

Exactly. -Richard

How are you going to bring this one back for us?

Jonathan

So, the first thing we're going to do is we're removing the old hardware. Steven's in the process of taking it off.

Richard

Okay, the old faucet's gone.

Correct. -Richard

All right. So now what?

Jonathan

Then after that, you can see on the outside, there's a lot of loose and peeling paint.

Richard

Oh, boy. I guess so.

Jonathan

So, we're going to have to remove all of that.

Richard

How do you do that?

Jonathan

That we do outside with a random orbital sander. The idea is to remove all of the existing paint.

Richard

All right. So, how about the bathing well?

Jonathan

The inside, that we do is we wash it down with an acid solution, and that gives the existing porcelain a facelift. It's going to clean the porcelain as well as provide a tooth, a profile, for the new coatings to adhere to.

Richard

So it can really bond onto the new stuff.

Jonathan

That's right. That's correct.

Richard

All right, what about dings and stuff you're going to find, imperfections?

Jonathan

Any imperfections, the chips and nicks, we fill it with a polyester resin and then sand it smooth.

Richard

Sort of like a full spa treatment.

Jonathan

Exactly. For your tub. That's right.

Richard

So, we ready to start now?

Jonathan

We are,

absolutely. -Richard

All right.

Jonathan

We're bringing the tub into our spray area to do the acid pretreatment. The reason we come in here is it's all explosion-proof and good ventilation.

Richard

Get the fumes right out of there.

Jonathan

Exactly. Very safe and so forth.

Richard

Perfect. All right, so acid is washed. That looks much cleaner.

Jonathan

That's right. Steven's washing out the tub, giving it a final wipe. And after that, we're going to give it a light sand. And then we're going to start filling in the chips and defects with our polyester resin.

Richard

Cool. One concern with reusing an old tub like this is lead. Older porcelain often contained it. Our homeowners have young children, so it's a potential worry for them.

But, if you're in love with an old tub like this, there is a solution. You can encapsulate the entire surface.

Jonathan

Right now, Steve is in the process of applying the bonding agent to the bathtub. The bonding agent is obviously a very critical step. It provides the adhesion for the primer coat and then the top coat. The top coat is unique.

It comes from the marine industry. It's a very low VOC, high performance paint -- much improved and much better than the old enamel.

Richard

A perfect surface. Great.

Jonathan

Yeah, very workable and provides longevity to the finish.

Richard

Well, look at that. It looks brand new. What a transformation. Now, how long can the homeowners expect to get this kind of finish to last?

Jonathan

Well, Richard, with proper use and care, we're hoping they get at least 10 years or more.

Richard

Cool. Well, thank you for your great work. Our homeowners are going to be thrilled.

Jonathan

You're welcome. Appreciate it.

Richard

Beautiful.

Kevin

As this project starts to wind down, we thought it was a good time to reflect on our Generation Next initiative. Eight months ago on this very porch, we met with Mike Rowe. And through the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, Mike has got a lot of people thinking about the trades as a meaningful alternative to college. Well, Mike and that idea has been somewhat of an inspiration to us.

We also found out that it's pretty good to have Mike around on the job site, as well. Hey,

Tommy. -Tom

What?

Kevin

Is that Mike Rowe you got up there?

Tom

Yeah, this is a dirty job. We need a professional.

Mike

You should try it sometime.

It's exciting. -Kevin

Oh, funny, huh? So, how you taking that chimney down, wise guy?

Tom

We're taking down one brick at a time. We're going to drop it inside to fill the chimney down below. We don't want anybody using the chimney later on.

Mike

See, Kevin, it's actual dirt.

Norm

Well, you know, Mike's foundation has been a great inspiration for us, and it's really helping us this year.

Tom

Absolutely.

Mike

Well, you guys are helping me, as well. You know, mikeroweWORKS has been around now for about nine years.

Tom

Wow.

Mike

And when we heard you guys were doing Generation Next, there was so much shared real estate, you know, in what you guys do, and we've been trying to close the skills gap in our own way. And we do that really just by calling attention to good jobs that actually exist, and so many of those jobs exist in this industry.

Tom

Exactly.

Mike

We want to give people a skill that's in demand. And with the help of your show, we want America to see just what those skills look like when they're properly applied. Same thing you guys have been doing for 39 seasons.

Tom

Yeah. Exactly.

Norm

Well, we're going to use the magazine, the TV show, the web. We're going to tell people all about skill trades and how interesting these jobs can be.

Mike

So, the short version is, together, we're going to close the skills gap.

Right. -Kevin

I think so.

Mike

Why, it's as good as done.

Kevin

We're going to continue trying to raise awareness about closing the skills gap. But, I mean, how do you guys feel about what we've done over this season? I mean, Norm, you've been out there

talking to everybody. -Norm

Right. And I think it's -- People are getting the message. When I talk to people who are manufacturers and we talk about Generation Next and the skill trades, they get it.

They're starting to get it. -Kevin

That's good. And the apprentices, you all worked with apprentices.

Richard

The apprentices were great, and I just love that this conversation has really been started. It's been great.

Roger

My apprentice was a Marine, and he worked like one.

He was great. -Kevin

That's great. -Tommy,

you had a bunch. -Tom

I had a bunch. They were all good workers. They were willing to learn. They asked a lot of questions.

And I think it was really great, and I'm glad that we're a part of this. But enough of this chatting. We've got to get back to work. We got one week left, and this project has got to get done, so, come on.

Kevin

Well, you're right. We have got one week left. And next week, the homeowners move in, and that will be a wrap. So, until then, I'm Kevin O'Connor.

I'm Roger Cook. -Richard

I'm Rich Trethewey.

I'm Tom Silva. -Norm

And I'm Norm Abram.

Kevin

For "This Old House."

Tom

All right, let's go.

Kevin

You better say something nice about Mike. He knows where you live. Next time on "This Old House"... Well, there it is, Tommy.

Let's check it out. After eight months, thousands of man hours, and a lot of homeowner sweat equity, our three-generation project is finally complete. And today, we give this house back to the family.

Tom

Hi,

Liz. -Liz

Hi, guys. How are you?

Tom

The place is looking great.

Liz

Thank you.

Kevin

Big day for you guys, huh?

Liz

It sure is.

Tom

All right, well I got to check on some things out back. I'll catch you guys later.

Norm

That's next time on "This Old House."