Ask This Old House

Kevin

Today on "Ask This Old House," We'll finish our tour of the U.S. with a visit to our 50th state.

Richard

Welcome to Hawaii. I'll take a look at the latest upgrade in home solar systems -- on-site storage.

Nick

This battery system is designed for storing the solar power during the day, and then running the home loads from sunset to sunrise.

Tom

This Hawaiian keepsake box is all about the grain of the beautiful hardwood. And we'll show you how to build it. I really like this detail here, where you've matched the grain around each corner. It's almost like you're folding the board around the box.

Roger

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

Richard

Well, boys, I think congratulations are in order. We have survived 50 states. Welcome to Hawaii.

Tom

Beautiful Hawaii, and this is Waikiki Beach with resorts up and down the coast. Over in the distance is Diamond Head, the old inactive volcano. But what's really cool -- Elvis Presley made a couple of movies there.

Richard

Oh, let me sing a couple of his songs.

Tom

No, please.

Roger

I love it here, too. It's so green and lush and beautiful. But I have a question.

Richard

What?

Roger

Where's Kevin?

Richard

Well, you know, we got tons of e-mails. We got questions about plumbing, electrical...

Tom

Carpentry and tile...

Roger

Roofing, interior decorating...

Tom

Painting and stucco.

Roger

Stucco!

Richard

But we didn't get one, not even one question about how to host this show. So, sadly, we left Kevin home. Sorry, Kev.

Tom

I didn't even know he wasn't here.

Don't be mean. Richard

You're so mean.

Tom

But anyways, I'm teaming up with a local woodworker, and we're gonna do a build it. Hey JJ, how are you?

JJ

Good. Aloha. Welcome to Hawaii.

Tom

Well, thank you. It's my first time to Hawaii. Well, you know what? I got to say, I've seen a lot of your stuff online and it's pretty amazing -- the tables that you make, the bar-tops that you make for hotels and restaurants. I love the wood, and I love what you do.

Great stuff. JJ

Thank you.

Tom

But today, we're gonna be doing a build it project -- a much smaller project. And so, tell me about the box.

JJ

We got a Hawaiian keepsake box here made out of Hawaiian curly mango lumber.

Tom

Mango, okay. I had one of those for breakfast this morning.

JJ

Yeah, delicious fruit, mangos everywhere in Hawaii.

Trees are everywhere. Tom

It's beautiful wood.

JJ

And we cut the wood out at our lumber mill on the north shore of Oahu.

Tom

So, you have your own mill.

JJ

Yeah, we mill our own wood from salvage companies, tree companies.

Tom

Mm-hmm, so do you stick-dry it?

JJ

We air dry it. We sticker it for about two years. We try to let it get down to about 14% humidity.

Tom

From there, you do what?

JJ

We can work it from there. Once it's dry, we'll get the raw piece of lumber. Usually, it'll have one natural edge on it. So, we'll sand it both sides through the machine to get it nice and level.

Tom

Yep.

JJ

And then, we'll run a straight edge on the joiner. And then from the joiner, we'll go to the tablesaw and dimensionalize the lumber. And then from there, we can work it on to the bandsaw. This one piece will make up the four sides of a box.

Tom

Mm-hmm.

JJ

We've put it through the wide-belt sander, and then we've done the dado.

Tom

Right, I like the dado 'cause you've actually recessed the bottom up just a little bit, but it also gives it some strength. I really like this touch right here where you actually match the grain around each corner. It's almost like you're folding the board. But to do that, mitered the corners.

JJ

Yes, and before we miter it, we're gonna get a finish on the inside first.

Tom

Oh, great. All right, JJ, I went through all the grit starting to 220 finishing up at 1,200. We have a nice smooth surface.

JJ

Okay, now we're gonna use a polyurethane glue to put the box together.

Tom

All right. Well I got to say, polyurethane glue is really strong, but, you know, it can bubble up and be really messy.

JJ

We're not too worried about the messy part, 'cause we're also gonna be using it as a finish.

Tom

As a finish?

JJ

Yeah, as a finish.

Tom

I must say, I've never used it as a finish. This will be interesting.

JJ

We're gonna put a couple drops on the front.

Tom

Hmm, so you're just working it into the grain.

JJ

Yeah, work it in, sort of like waxing a car. As the rag sucks it up, you'll probably have to put a little more.

Tom

Yep. Wow, this is the first time I've seen glue as a finish, I can say that.

JJ

Yeah, it sort of came up as an accident, but it works really good.

Tom

It kind of makes sense. I mean, polyurethane -- it's used as a finish all the time.

JJ

Yeah, yeah. I find that it seals the pores really well and it gives a really nice hand-rubbed look. Keep working it in.

Tom

Yep.

JJ

After we've put it on we wipe it down, and maybe every 10 to 15 minutes, we wipe it again for about 45 minutes.

Tom

I really think it's smart that you're finishing this flat surface for the inside of the box first before you assemble it. It's a lot easier.

JJ

So now we're gonna hit it again with 1,200-grit sandpaper. And now we're gonna use the paste wax for a final finish.

Tom

Okay.

JJ

The wax will also help with the glue pour-out in the joints, so if the glue does pour out, it's easier to clean out.

Tom

That makes sense.

JJ

Now we cut our pieces to length and miter the corners to 45 degrees on the tablesaw. The same polyurethane glue we're using, we're gonna now use to glue together the box.

Tom

Okay.

JJ

We're using a quarter-inch plywood bottom made out of koa.

Tom

I notice that it just, uh, no finish on that.

JJ

No finish. It's more of a keepsake valet box.

Tom

Okay.

JJ

And now we're gonna clamp it together and let it dry for about an hour.

Tom

Okay.

JJ

Then we'll be removing about a third of the top of the box. And this part is actually part of the lid. And by doing that, we'll be able to keep the continuous grain throughout the lid and the side. So now we're gonna put some splines in the corners of the joints to reinforce the joint and to add some decoration to the box. The slot for the spline was cut on a tablesaw at 45-degree angle using a jig. The splines are cut from scrap pieces of Cuban mahogany.

Tom

Oh, that's a nice accent piece and will really stiffen up that joint, too.

JJ

Yeah. While the glue's setting up, we're gonna send the pieces through the wide-belt sander and level everything up. So now that the splines are dried, we're ready to trim them off with a pullsaw. And this is just another piece of mango. I kind of want to push it down so the lid doesn't shift when it hits the glue.

Tom

Yep. Now, we're ready to install the hinges to hold the top on. They're actually two little barrel hinges. You drive a 5-millimeter hole and insert them into it.

JJ

So the lid will open, we have to chamfer the bottom and top edges of the box. Now that we have a final sand and that we've eased the edges along all the corners and edges, we can apply the finish. And we use the same as we did the inside -- the glue and then the wax.

Tom

And I really like the sheen of this finish. It's almost like a matte or a semigloss finish. I'm not a big fan of the high-gloss.

JJ

Yes, me too.

Tom

Well, I was a little skeptical about using polyurethane glue as a finish, but once it was sanded up and waxed, it's absolutely beautiful.

Thank you. Tom

And I love the wood. And a pretty good trick, using the super glue to hold the hinges in place. Really a nice job and a beautiful box.

JJ

Thank you very much. I was an honor to show you, and please accept this box -- something from Hawaii.

Tom

Really? Well, thank you. And I'm also gonna take a couple of your tricks you taught me.

Thank you. Tom

Great job.

Richard

One thing that Hawaii has plenty of is sun, but it doesn't have a lot of fossil fuel. And for that reason, solar is big here. Hawaii, this tiny island state, is number eight in solar production throughout the whole U.S., and it's number two per capita. That's with good reason. This sun beats down all day, seems like every day. So if you look around on any roof, there's some sort of solar. Right here, you can see these two panels right here. That's solar-thermal, using the sun's energy to heat water for faucets. It collects that water. It goes down to a tank. There's also photovoltaic on most of these houses. Photovoltaic is solar-electric. Photovoltaic -- PV. Now, a typical array comes here. The sun hits these panels, creates DC power, and it goes down to an inverter downstairs to invert or change that DC power to AC, the kind of power we use. Now, on typical PV, there is a series of panels that run together much like Christmas lights. And the issue is if one of these breaks, it makes the whole array get knocked out. Or if the sun is shading part of it, the whole array is affected. What we're using here is actually a thing called a micro-inverter. Underneath each panel is a unit like this that'll actually take the DC power and convert it right here to AC. Tons of advantages here. If one panel was to break, all of them would still be operating properly. And if it was partially shaded, it won't affect the performance of the whole array. So, with photovoltaic, there's always the paradox of solar. You have more solar energy oftentimes when you don't need it. That's no different here. Today during the day, we've got plenty of solar, plenty of electricity being made. What do you do with it? People are away at school or work. And so what happens is, typically, you send it down through your meter and out to the grid that you see everywhere here. So now, this electricity we're making is actually being used by our neighbors -- by houses in the neighborhood or commercial spaces. Then you come home at night and the sun has dropped, and that's when demand goes up the most and you need the most energy. So now, you're asking that electricity to come back through that grid, spin the meter the other way, and that's called net metering. So, you'd think that'd be perfect, right? Well, the local utilities here in Hawaii on new installations no longer want to let electricity go back into their grid. They want people to store electricity locally. So, Brian, it's been 22 years since I've been back in Hawaii, and I've fallen in love with it again.

Brian

It's a special place. We love it, as well.

Richard

How long you guys been in this house?

Brian

Been in this house, my wife, two children, and I, about five years.

Richard

And is this a typical Hawaiian house?

Brian

It is, built in the mid '50s, single-wall construction. As you can see, no screens on the doors, open air.

Richard

Right, right. Do you have air conditioning?

Brian

We don't -- no air conditioning.

Richard

That's it?

Brian

We use our nice fan.

Richard

Well, I've been up on your roof. I know you've got solar-electric up there.

Brian

Yeah, we have 12 PV panels for making electricity, and actually two hot water panels to heat our water.

Richard

Okay. I love this in the Hawaiian houses, too. They do the big overhangs to help knock down that solar gain. Underneath the overhang, you can see right here, here's where that electricity comes down from your panels. Right here, that's alternating current -- AC. Disconnect switch there, which is great. Power goes over to your monitor right there to see how much you're using. Back to the panel -- if you need power, it's gonna go from the panel into the house, but the utlities no longer want you to go back through the grid.

That's right. Richard

So, Nick Soleil is helping us with our storage system today. Hey,

Nick. Nick

Hey, Richard, Brian.

Richard

How are you? Nice to see you.

Brian

Hey, Nick.

Richard

All right, so, take us through.

Nick

So, we're gonna be installing this energy storage system using an AC battery.

Richard

Is this the whole unit?

Nick

Yeah, this is the AC battery. This is a 1.2 kilowatt hour battery. We're gonna be installing five on this system.

Okay. Nick

We've actually been monitoring Brian's home loads and the solar production over the last couple months, and we've sized this battery system to basically run the home loads from the sunset to sunrise.

Richard

When I think about a battery system, I think about being off the grid on a mountaintop, you know, completely separated. Is he still gonna be connected to the grid?

Nick

Yes, we'll still be connected to the grid with this system. This battery system is designed for storing the solar power during the day, and then running the home loads from sunset to sunrise.

Richard

What about the rare cloudy days you might get here in paradise?

Nick

When you do have a cloudy day, you may need to buy some power from the electric company.

Richard

So, are we ready to get started?

Nick

Yeah,

let's get started. Richard

All right.

Nick

These brackets will support the batteries, and we'll also make our wiring connections here. Between each bracket we'll run a short section of electrical conduit. Each wall-mount bracket can accept two number-12 conductors, one as to feed in, and one as to feed out to the next battery. Now, we're ready for the batteries. Each one is about 50 pounds. We're gonna just lift them up and click them on to the wall-mount bracket. And once the batteries are in place, we can just plug them in.

Richard

You are all wired up, and you can see that the batteries have green lights. That means they're charging. Solar's coming in. If they ever show blue, it means they're discharging, going the other way.

Okay. Nick

Yeah, and the batteries are now communicating

with the system monitor. Richard

Great.

Nick

So, it's gonna take a little bit of time for all the data to catch up. But in the meantime, I can show you a similar system if you'd like.

Richard

Okay. So, what am I seeing right there?

Nick

Yeah, this is -- the orange is the home solar consumption, and the blue is the solar production at the site.

Right. Nick

This green graph at the bottom shows the batteries' state of charge, and you can see on a typical day the batteries charging up throughout the day, and then beginning to discharge throughout the evening and run the home loads.

Richard

So, how did we do on that particular day, sort of in general?

Nick

Well, let's look. So, on this site, we produce 14.7 and we consume 15, so it's pretty much a, you know, wash.

It's the right size. Nick

Yeah, that's good.

Richard

I assume this one's right size too, so you're gonna be in good shape.

Brian

Sure hope so.

Richard

Thank you for your great work.

Nick

Yeah,

thank you. Richard

How do they say it -- mahalo?

Nick

Congratulations.

Thank you. Richard

Great job.

Roger

Look at this view. This is just a beautiful spot here in Hawaii. Good morning, Kaui.

Kaui

Aloha, Roger. Welcome.

Roger

Tell me about your house.

Kaui

So, I've lived here all my life. I actually grew up here, and I still live here now with my parents. And also, I'm raising my own family now. I have my husband and my three kids, as well.

Roger

So, a multigenerational family living here is typical of Hawaii?

Kaui

Yes, it is.

Roger

Now, it looks like you've been doing some gardening.

The lawn looks nice and lush. -Kaui

Yes. So, the grass is growing great, and this is a tree that my grandmother planted. It's older than I am. But now with the cost of the food rising in Hawaii, also, I wanted to go ahead and start growing my own food here. I planted a mountain apple tree and guava tree, but they're not doing so great.

Roger

Not doing well at all, huh? Well, I think it's a great idea to grow vegetables and fruit out here, and I think your kids will love it. Now, I'm not an expert on tropical plants, but I found one who is and she's gonna give us a hand with the garden. So, let's go get to work.

Kaui

Okay.

Roger

Kaui, I'd like you to meet another Kaui. This is Kaui Sana, and she is an expert vegetable grower.

Aloha Kaui Sana

Aloha

Roger

Tell us about your farm.

Kaui Sana

Yeah, so I work at an organic farm in the valley next over, in Lualualei Valley. It's about 10 minutes away. We started as a five-acre farm. Now, we're at 25 acres, and we sell all certified organic fruits and vegetables.

Kaui

Great. I've actually been to your farm stand.

Kaui Sana

Oh, awesome. Mahalo.

Roger

Now, it looks like you're gonna do some planting. Are you gonna plant right into the ground here?

Kaui Sana

No, so we kind of -- we started to prep the garden here. So we dug in, but if you was to go a little bit more deeper, you would actually find large blocks of coral here. So, hundreds of years ago, thousands of years ago, this community was actually underwater.

Roger

You can see -- this is just a sample piece, but there's fossils in here and shells and everything else. No way that's gonna drain well.

Kaui Sana

No, and you won't be able to grow too much vegetables in there either.

Roger

So, what do you want to do?

Kaui Sana

Yeah, so today, we're gonna be making some planters out of some untreated wood. Right there.

Roger

I'll pop this one in for you to come and screw this one in.

Kaui Sana

Okay. All right, we're gonna fill up these raised beds here with some compost. We're gonna fill the beds up about halfway. The compost here is from the farms -- chicken manure and some green waste mixture in here.

Roger

No matter where you are, compost is just the greatest thing you can add to the garden. It helps with soil structure and micro-nutrients, and plants just love to grow in it.

Kaui Sana

And then in here, in this wheelbarrow, we have some of our Lualualei vertisol soil from the farm. It's really different from other soils from on the island. Other soils will be like a red, clay kind of soil. This, we have a nice, black, deep, dark soil. Holds the nutrients.

Nice. Roger

Take a look at that. There's a little bit of clay in there, but it's not gonna cause any problem with the soil. In fact, it'll hold moisture and release it to the plants.

Great. Roger

Are we ready to fill the beds?

Kaui Sana

Yep, let's go.

Roger

All right, Kaui, we are ready to plant.

All right. Kaui Sana

Yes, so in this first bed, we're gonna be planting some taro. The Hawaiian word is actually called kalo. This is one of the staple crops for the Hawaiian people here.

Kaui

Yeah, definitely. We use the leaves to make what we call lau lau. We take the leaves, and then we wrap some meat. And then, we steam it and cook it. And the we also use the crown when it grows out. We use that to make poi, which is one of our staple foods here.

Kaui Sana

For today, we're gonna be planting about three or four inches deep. So, we'll move some of this mulch around.

Roger

Just pull it out of there?

Kaui Sana

Yeah, pull it out of the way. Use my hands as the shovels, get it all nice and deep, and then we'll just cover this up, put some soil around. And then, the mulch is really, really good 'cause then it helps with the weed suppression and it'll help conservate water, and it kind of helps bring back all the biological stuff underneath to help the kalo plant grow. So, here in the middle of it, it's gonna be reflection of the melting pot of Hawaii, of different varieties of fruits and vegetables. We have some classic crops like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. We have some herbs coming from Japan and China, such as green onions, cilantro, parsley. We have some Thai basil used in a lot of Thai food and Filipino food. And then, we also have a strong Portuguese influence with crops like kale. So, we're gonna planting some fruit trees around the yard. We're gonna be digging a hole that's a little bit wider and a little bit deeper than the container. Then we're gonna put some wood chips on the bottom of the hole for some drainage. Then we also have some pelletized chicken manure that we're gonna add in for fertilizer. It's 100% organic, and it's just gonna give a slow release of all the nutrients that it needs for the tree. And then, we can backfill around the tree and put some mulch around.

Roger

Guys, we really got a lot done today, including the planting of two citrus trees.

Kaui Sana

Yeah, so right here we have a Tahitian lime and a Meyer lemon. They'll grow about six to eight feet tall, and they'll provide some good shade for the back of your house.

Kaui

Yeah, that's great. As you can see, we get a lot of sunlight back here.

Roger

Let's take a look at the three beds out back. Wow, this really looks good now. You got taro in the corners, and I especially like that we planted marigolds in the bed. They're a natural deterrent to insects, and will keep them from getting and eating in there.

Kaui

That's good to know. Well, thank you guys both so much for all you've done, and I hope my green thumb improves from here on out.

Roger

I'm sure it did.

Kaui

So, Roger, I know this is your first time in Hawaii. I wanted to know if you would like to join us for a real Hawaiian paina.

That would be great. Kaui

Great.

Kaui Sana

Can I invite some of my farmer friends from down the road?

Kaui

Of course.

Kaui Sana

Great.

Tom

Well, what's up, Roger? All this free food, and you didn't even invite us? What?

Richard

Good thing we checked the coconut telegraph.

Roger

I'll tell you what -- small island, free food, I knew you guys would find your way here.

We did. Tom

And we did. Well, it's pretty good. We hit all 50 states.

Roger

Pretty amazing, huh?

Richard

And what a way to end it -- eating heavenly food here in paradise.

Not bad. Tom

Exactly. So, till next time, I'm Tom Silva.

Roger

I'm Roger Cook.

Richard

And I'm Richard Trethewey.

Tom

For "Ask This Old House." So, where are we going next?

Roger

We got to get a 51st state.

Tom

51st?