Ask This Old House

Kevin

On "Ask This Old House," our experts travel across the country to answer questions about your house. Today... Heath will install a classic push-button doorbell.

Doorbell rings

Kevin

Plus, what are your options if a standard P-trap is too big for a small powder-room sink? And Mark will save a sinking driveway by removing and replacing the edging. All that on "Ask This Old House."

Heath

So, today we're going to meet with a homeowner that has a hardwired doorbell in place that doesn't operate anymore. Now, we know they have the button at the front door, but the other components seem to be missing, so what we want to do is give them a hand trying to find some of the existing wires and see if we can possibly reconnect what might have been there. A little more complicated than you actually might think. But the homeowner wants to have this doorbell working, and we're going to do everything we can to make that happen.

Megan

Hi,

Heath. Heath

Hey, Meg.

Nice to meet you. Megan

You too.

Heath

So, I'm guessing from the fact that I had to knock that this is the doorbell you wrote in about?

Megan

Yeah, exactly. We've been here for about two years. There was a button here when we first moved in that we tried to play with to see if it would work, and the whole thing fell off. So we're just really hoping to get a working doorbell set up.

Heath

Okay, so we want to get the system back up and running?

Yeah. Heath

Roughly, how old is the house? Do you know?

Megan

It was built in the 1940.

Heath

1940s. Okay. And we can look at this, and we can see that that wiring kind of shows that age. It's fairly brittle. So, there are three major components that go into the doorbell system like this, the first one being the doorbell button, which we have, so at least we know the system was in place. The second one's going to be the chime. So can we go inside and take a look and see if we can find a chime?

Megan

Yeah, absolutely.

Heath

Okay. So we couldn't find the chime upstairs. Alright, Meg, would you mind showing me the electrical panel first?

Megan

Right over here.

Okay. Megan

Here's the panel here.

Heath

Alright. Perfect. So what we're looking for is component number three of the transformer, and I brought one with me so we can kind of get an idea of what we got to try and chase down in this basement. So it looks something like this. And what this does is it takes the 120-volt power from the panel somewhere in the system and converts it to 16 volts to power the doorbell. Normally, we'd see it somewhere around the panel, so I might see this, you know, bolted up here or down bottom. But I'm not seeing anything here or any trace of wiring. So let's take a look at some of the junction boxes and other things in the basement. It may be mounted somewhere in there.

Megan

Okay.

Heath

Alright, well, we've looked for the chime. We couldn't find that. We've looked for the transformer, couldn't find that. And we don't see any other wiring that's associated with this doorbell downstairs anywhere. But we know we have them because we have the button outside. So I've got one last thing I want to try, and I want to take a toner and I want to put the unit outside on the wire. And what this is gonna let us do is send a signal through that existing wire, and maybe we'll get lucky and try and find the location of it. I'm gonna try and hear that tone that's hopefully going through that wire.

Megan

Alright.

Steady beep

Heath

Ah. There we go.

Steady beep

Heath

Oh, that's a good sign. So, it sounds like the wire ends up somewhere up here. Probably where the old chime location was.

Alright. Heath

Alright. Since we located the existing wires somewhere up there, that's actually a pretty good spot for a chime. And it kind of makes sense. What do you think?

I think that works. Heath

Yeah, I think that's a good central location, and what I'd like to do is line it up with the top of this molding, as well, put it right there. Alright, Meg, so what I want to do now is locate the stud so we can find out what the hollow bay is for getting our wires into. So, one of the easiest ways to do that, if we get lucky, is using just a magnet. So, I'm hoping to catch one of the drywall screws or one of the nails that's holding the drywall in place. Yeah. Perfect. There's one. Just gonna give it a light pencil mark. And that makes sense. The box would be attached here.

Megan

Mm-hmm.

Heath

Eh, let's come over here. Great. So that's a second one. And anything else? There shouldn't be anything else in the middle. And we'll just double-check the measurements, see if that makes sense. And that's about 16 inches apart. It's about what we expect.

Megan

Okay.

Heath

So now we have a stud here, a stud here. Looks like an open bay in between. So I want to take this plate off next and see what's behind here. Alright. Let's take a look. Alright. So we know what we're contending with this. We know what our bay is. So now we're down to how we have to get there.

Mm-hmm. Heath

The first thing we have is we know the chime is going up top and we know the wire is up top. So what I'd like to do first, I want to make the hole up there and see if we get lucky and we can find this wire. So, Meg, I have some good news.

We found a wire. Megan

Alright.

Heath

Let's see if we can get it out of there. And it looks like the same wire we have outside. We just don't know if it's the button or if it's the old power wire. Would you mind passing me the pair of red-handled pliers right there? Perfect. Just gonna strip this end up. And then in the back of the bag, in the small pouch -- Yeah, there's a meter right there. Alright. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put the meter in continuity. And I do that...

Beep

Heath

...we can hear a beep if something's touching or closed.

Megan

Okay. So, I have the two wires. Nothing there. Wanna go outside and just touch the two wires outside together?

Sure. Heath

And we'll see if it's this one by any chance. Just let me know when.

Megan

They're touching.

Beeping

Megan

Alright. So we have some good news. That is the doorbell-button wire. Alright!

Heath

So, now we want to see if we can get lucky. You want to see if it's actually loose. It was loose pulling down from the top, but we want to see if we can actually tie the wire on outside, push that through, and try and pull that up.

Okay. Heath

So, what I want to do is take this new wire, tie it onto the existing wire, and hopefully use this as a pull to pull that up.

Okay. Heath

And then we're gonna gently try and tape it onto this. Once we do that, I'm gonna have you feed it and try and gently push it in while I try and pull it up.

Megan

Alright.

Heath

Feel like it's moving at all?

Megan

No.

Heath

Yeah. The wire's pretty brittle. I'm afraid it's probably not gonna budge.

Okay. Heath

Looking in here, all of our wiring at that switch box goes up. There's nothing that goes down. So we can see that this whole interior stud is clean, no wiring. So what I'd like to try, before we put a hole in the drywall, I'm gonna drill a 5/8-inch hole here that's sized for a standard doorbell button if it were recessed, and I'm gonna take a skinny bit and go in at an angle through the stud. And I only feel comfortable doing that because we know there are no wires there. Good. I'm going to take this fish. I'm gonna try and push this through. So if you want to go up on the ladder and see if you can see it out of that hole, and we'll try and catch it.

Megan

Okay. Alright. I got it.

Heath

Alright. You want to pull that out a couple of feet?

Megan

Okay.

Heath

Oh,

look at that. Great. Megan

Alright!

Heath

So, next, we'll tie the wire on

and pull that back down. Megan

Okay!

Heath

I'm gonna put that through there. Just fold it over. Then I'm gonna give it one thin layer of tape. Just gonna gently feed that while I pull this down.

Megan

Okay. Great. Alright.

I've got that on my end. Megan

Alright.

Heath

Just gonna make a little loop. And back in here, we'll just cut a little extra off there. And want you to make a little loop so it doesn't go anywhere.

Megan

Okay. Like that?

Heath

Perfect. So I think, Meg, that was the hard part. So, what I'm gonna do next, I'm gonna head to the basement and we'll drill and we'll do it again. Once I locate the correct bay in the basement directly below the chime, I'll drill a hole to run a wire from the new chime to the new transformer.

Megan

Okay, Heath. I got it!

Heath

Alright, Meg! So, I've got the wire taped onto the fish, if you want to go ahead and just take it up!

Megan

I'm at the white wire.

Heath

Yeah, another foot. Keep going. That's good! So, now we're down to the three components that we talked about originally. So, we have the button outside, the chime that's gonna go here, and the transformer. So, while we're set up here, I think we ought to go ahead and get the chime in place and then work on the other two.

Sounds good. Heath

Alright. To mount the chime to the wall, I'll drill holes for the anchors and then set the anchors into the wall. Next, I'll take the screws and attach the chime to the wall in those anchors. To wire the chime, I'll take the wire that comes from the transformer and attach it to the transformer terminal... and the wire that comes from the button at the front door and attach it to the front-door terminal. Alright, so now that the chime is in, it's time to go ahead and install the button. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna have you strip the jacket up first, and then we'll strip the individual conductors.

Megan

Okay.

Heath

Alright. So, next, we're gonna slide this into place. Alright, now that the button's all set, chime's all set, I'll go downstairs, make up the transformer,

and then we'll test it out. Megan

Alright.

Heath

The transformer lowers the voltage to make the doorbell safer to work. Alright. So the final step is done. So we've done a lot of work today. We've installed all new wiring for the doorbell. We've installed the new main components, all three of them. We've done the new button, the new chime, and the new transformer. So everything should be done and operational. So you want to do the honors?

Megan

Yeah.

Doorbell rings

Megan

Sounds awesome!

Heath

Great. So we have an actual, real functioning doorbell, real power. If you ever want to change the button to something else,

you always have that option. Megan

Yeah.

Heath

So I think you're pretty good.

Megan

Alright. Thank you so much.

Heath

No problem. Glad to help. I'm just gonna go inside, clean up, and we'll be on our way.

Megan

Alright.

Kevin

Hey,

Richard. Richard

Hello there.

Kevin

Look at the adorable little sink you brought us.

Richard

It is cute, isn't it?

Kevin

It's adorable!

Richard

You know, a lot of people want to add a little half-bathroom in different places, and sometimes it's really tight for space. It might be underneath the front-hall stairs, you know, and you might end up with a space with enough for the toilet right here, but then you got to put a lavatory somewhere,

and you still have the door. Kevin

Right.

So that wants to swing in. Richard

Right. Or this way. So, now, with that case, if a conventional lavatory is way out here -- it might be 18 or 19 inches off the wall -- which means the drain will be here. But now as you make this smaller this way, you're also changing the drain point much closer to the wall.

Kevin

Pushing that much closer, which means less real estate right here.

Richard

And we always need a trap of some sort. So, you know, most people say, "Oh, I can just put a PVC trap." Well, you don't want to put a PVC trap anyways because it looks so ugly. You'd like it to be --

Kevin

Yeah. This is not sitting on a cabinet.

All of this is exposed. Richard

This is all exposed. So it has to be just right. But look at what happens with any trap. You see that this is actually too far towards the wall. You're gonna have to move to a tubular trap. Now, this is chrome-plated brass.

Yeah. Richard

Okay? And what you want to do is -- the last connection you want to make has a flange and the nut inside the wall. And so you come right here, and you try to get it in here, and we're trying to make this connection inside the wall and then cover it with this, but this is just at the point where this would be difficult to make because of this -- the bend being right here.

Kevin

So, I get why we need a trap. Like, you cannot go with a fixture without a trap.

Richard

No, you have to 'cause there's nothing but sewer gas coming up through that pipe. And so the way a trap works is the water will come down this way, down through the trap right here, and go to the drain. But the water seal remains right here. This high point right here is the trap weir. And so water would sit in here, and it will keep sewer gas from coming up into the space.

Kevin

Okay, and the same thing's going on in this beautiful little tubular, but you're saying that the distance from where the drain is to where it starts to get straight again for that nut... this is too wide.

Richard

Correct. So you could take a trap like this and maybe change the point of the -- you know,

where it's roughed in. Kevin

Yeah!

Richard

But that's exposing more when you look at it. It doesn't look right. You really want it to be clean. You were excited.

Kevin

I was a little excited, but now that you mention it...

Richard

So you want to get excited?

Yeah. Richard

How about this?

This is a bottle trap. Kevin

Oh, now I'm excited.

Richard

Also called a decorative lav trap.

Kevin

There's a little P shape on that.

Richard

Okay. So, now there it is. And you say, boy, that is beautiful, isn't it? And it is.

Kevin

That is beautiful!

Richard

Right. Except it's illegal.

Kevin

You can't use it?

Richard

It's illegal.

Wait. Richard

With good reason.

Kevin

Because it doesn't work?

It works. Kevin

How does it work?

Richard

But let me show you inside. Here's a cutaway. Water comes down through the drain, and it goes down through this inner tube right here and turns, and it comes back up this way and goes down the drain. And, so, this is where the water seal is. But this is called an internal partition. And this internal partition is a separate pipe. You see it?

Kevin

Yeah.

Richard

And it's made out of just thin brass with plastic, and so --

Kevin

So it's like a pipe in a pipe.

Richard

Correct, and so, now, this internal partition, if something ever happened to this and it broke or rotted away or mechanically failed, you would then have the water just sitting right here and sewer gas would be able to come up into the building.

Kevin

And even though we can see it there, on the real thing, we would never see that that pipe in the pipe is busted.

Richard

You'd only smell it. That's why any trap is not supposed to have any internal partition. It also is supposed to be able to be self-scouring. So, self-scouring is all the water that goes by will tend to clean the inside of the trap.

Kevin

Whereas this just drops down and floats up.

Richard

It sort of has a little reservoir.

No momentum there. Richard

And the final piece is that it wants to be able to be cleared mechanically. So, if you'd just pass me that.

Kevin

Your snake right here.

Richard

You can't really get this thing down and then make that turn through the pipe that way, unlike a conventional trap, where you can come down here and it goes right down through the drain and clears it, okay? So, those three reasons make it technically illegal.

Kevin

This is such a bait-and-switch. I thought this was the perfect solution, and now you're telling me it's illegal. Why are you showing me this?!

Richard

There are times that this is exactly what you need and you may apply to the local plumbing inspector for a variance that says you can do it, but it is illegal with good reason because plumbing fixtures should go in and be good for a hundred years and not have to worry about sewer gas.

Kevin

You've always said that. You've always said they should just be bulletproof. But you would be okay in certain situations if you got the legal variance to use it?

Richard

Yeah, and this is what's happened now with the world market. You know, products come from all around the world. We still have to satisfy the local laws.

Kevin

Good. Alright. Well,

it's still adorable. Richard

It is adorable.

Kevin

Even more so with the bottle --

Richard

It's a bottle trap!

Laughs

Richard

Erica

Hey,

Mark. Mark

Hello, Erica.

Erica

Thanks for coming out.

Mark

Alright. Thanks for having me.

Nice to meet you. Mark

You too.

Erica

I reached out to you guys about an issue we're having with the driveway. It's starting to slope down. And we need some help fixing the bricks.

Okay. Erica

So, Mark, as you can see here, we've got this brick lined up, and the retaining wall just isn't doing a good job of keeping up everything into the driveway.

Right. Erica

And it's getting hard to pull into the driveway, too, as the earth starts to sink a bit.

Mark

Right. So the big problem here is improper grading. What I usually like to see is everything graded away from the house. You can see how we have a swale that's bringing all the water over that hump and then onto the driveway. And that's what's causing all this runoff over here, skipping over the brick and then hitting the lawn like that.

Yeah. Mark

I do have a plan. We're gonna replace the brick with something else. So why don't we get going?

Sounds great. Mark

Alright. Alright, Erica, before we get going ripping this brick up, look at this. "Catskill." Tells us where it came from.

Erica

Yeah. You know, the owners who built the home, they're from New York, so the must have brought these back from their hometown maybe.

Mark

Yeah, bring a little piece of home to the new home. Alright, Erica, now it's time to talk about the ingredients.

Great. Mark

This is what we're gonna replace the brick with. It's a cobblestone. You can see it's a lot bigger than a brick. It's a lot heavier than a brick. Next, we have crushed stone. That, we're gonna put in the bottom of the trench. Don't forget -- we're not below the frost line. So there might -- the frost might throw some rocks and some boulders around. This gravel will help to absorb that, right? And it's also gonna help us with drainage, too. So once we get that in, we're gonna tamp it down. Next thing we're gonna do is mix up concrete. That concrete is gonna go right in the trench. And on top of that, that's where we're gonna put our cobblestone.

Erica

Great.

Mark

And then we're gonna take this rebar. We're gonna put it in the trench the entire length, and we're gonna put it on both sides of the cobblestone. Again, all those ingredients are just gonna lock this cobblestone in, so any issue that you had before, you should never hear again.

Erica

I love it.

Mark

This is the fun part. We're gonna be mixing the concrete.

Erica

Great.

Mark

What I love about this concrete is it's pre-mixed. So all we have to do is spread this out and add water.

Erica

Alright, and what's the difference between, like, this and, like, a cement?

Mark

Actually, that's a great question. You see all those stones?

Erica

Yep, yep.

Mark

That's what makes the concrete. So, we have Portland cement. There's already a little bit of sand in there. And this is what makes it concrete.

Great. Mark

Peastone.

Erica

Let's mix it.

Mark

Yep. So just flip it around a little bit. I'm gonna add a little bit of water. And we always tell everybody -- don't add all the water at once because you can't take it out.

Erica

Hm. That's --

Mark

We don't want the concrete to get too wet.

Erica

Yeah. What consistency...?

Mark

The consistency we always tell everybody is like oatmeal. And don't be afraid to kick it around. Scrape it off the walls of the wheelbarrow. I'm gonna add a little more water. That ought to do it.

Ooh. Mark

Well. Yeah.

Indistinct conversation

Ooh. Mark

So, the cobblestone is set in a soldier course position. All that is, is a brick or a cobblestone standing upright. In front of the cobblestone, you see how we're gonna keep the concrete low. That's so when we take our new peastone to level off the driveway, we're gonna be able to sink into this trench, and it's just gonna solidify our peastone

just a little bit more. Erica

Great.

Mark

But on the back side of this cobblestone, we're gonna put a lot of the concrete, we're gonna bring it up to grade, and then we're actually gonna pitch it down to grade. And, that way, when the water gets through these cobblestones, it's gonna continue to run and it won't build up as ice. Alright, Erica. We have the re-rod. So, what we want to do is we want to overlap a couple feet.

Erica

Mm-hmm.

This is tie wire. Erica

Mm-hmm.

Mark

And I have a special tool that you can pick up, actually, at a hardware store. Gonna hook both eyes. That's it. Let the tool twist. Oh, yeah.

Erica

Good?

Mark

Yeah,

that's great. Erica

Yeah?

Mark

So, now we just lay it into the little concrete that we poured, and now we're gonna pour concrete on top of that. So, Erica, all we're gonna do, I'm gonna dump a little gravel, and this is gonna top everything off. So I'll dump it, and you can take it out.

Great. Mark

There you go.

Erica

Kind of filling this in, leveling out the driveway a bit.

Mark

Yeah. Looks good. Alright, Erica, we are done. What do you think?

It looks really good. Mark

Alright. Well, we gave you a nice little feature here. We took the cobblestone, and we lowered them. That way, you can get a wheelbarrow in and you can get a wheelbarrow out.

Erica

Great idea. I love it. This is a lot of work, but it looks really good, Mark.

Mark

Okay, well, I'm glad you're happy. And if you have any questions about your house, please give us a call. Until next time, I'm Mark McCullough for "Ask This Old house."

Kevin

Next time on "Ask This Old House," Jenn will look to nature for inspiration to create a new woodland garden. Then, are you dealing with small chips, scratches, or cracks in porcelain? Mauro will show you how to tackle repairs before you have to replace your tile. And we're taking a look at chimneys from the top down to help you understand when your chimney could be in need of a professional repair. All that on "Ask This Old House."