Ask This Old House

Kevin

Today on "Ask This Old House"...

Mauro

I'll give you some tips on how to paint a baby's nursery the right way. For this room, I select a zero-VOC paint. You can breathe easy, and it's also very good for a nursery room.

Richard

Did you know that electric dryers use thousands of watts of electricity to dry your clothes? I'm gonna show you some new technology that could cut that in half.

Tom

And this stand will hold a turntable and some records, and we'll show you how to build it. We're going to use the floating tenons to hold all the sides together, and then we should be fine without any mechanical fasteners.

Ava

Come on in, Mauro. Welcome to my house.

Mauro

Thank you. It's a great house.

Ava

Yeah, it is a really great house. Currently, we're in, like, a one-bedroom apartment, so we're really cramped in there, so this is gonna be great.

It's a four-bedroom here. Mauro

Yep.

Ava

And this is one of the rooms that I want to be painted and set up for my son.

This is going to be his nursery. Mauro

Got it.

Ava

We're not moved in yet, so we think this is a good time because Evan's gonna be a year old, and I'm just really excited 'cause we want to paint this room for him, get it ready for him.

Mauro

Oh, that's nice. It's a great house, and for the nursery room, the color light gray works out very nice. A lot of people liked it, but I'm gonna change the colors. What you think of that?

Ava

I do. I have some inspiration from just getting this room to be more of like an ocean theme.

Mauro

Yeah?

Ava

You see, my husband, he loves to fish.

Mauro

Ah, that's nice.

Ava

You know, we got married in Hawaii, and I think we just want to paint it maybe like an aquamarine, just to make it a little more like an ocean theme in here.

Mauro

I like that. That's gonna look nice. One thing I love it when I came into this room -- it's just two pieces of furniture. That's very easy for us. We're gonna move those two pieces...

Ava

Okay.

Mauro

...and we can start the work. Alright, Ava. I know this house was built before 1978. One thing that I always do on this situation is test for lead paint, usually on windows and trim and walls. While this is a vinyl replacement window, and this is some stain work with polyurethane, there's no lead on those materials, but it could be some lead paint on the walls. This is what we're gonna go for and test for it, okay? I have this kit in here. It's specific for lead paint. You can get these kits at any home center or hardware stores, and they're really easy to use. There's two chemicals inside. They are in separate vials. Once I crush the part "A" and part "B," shake them up. If those chemicals contact lead, it will become red or pink. I'm gonna rub on this piece of sample that I made because I know there is no lead in it. Let's try a little here. See that color there? That's yellow. That means it didn't detect any lead paint on this board, but I want to make sure we're doing this correctly. We want to rub some on this card that comes with the kit, and it has traces of lead. This should turn pink. That means we've done it right. But I want to see and try on the walls now.

Okay. Mauro

So -- And I want to look for a nice spot to do it 'cause I want to go down to the very first coat of paint on it. It's right behind this outlet. Almost there.

Ava

That's a great idea.

Mauro

Well, I do not want to put any damage on the walls, Ava. This is a good spot for us here.

Great. Mauro

Alright. Now we got my utility knife, and we go right there. Scrape a little bit of the paint in here 'cause I want to go down to the very first layer of paint on the walls. That looks good. Alright. We're gonna do exactly what we did there. We're gonna -- part "A" and part "B," but we're gonna use a new swab, alright? We're gonna crush part "A," part "B." Shake it. Now we're going to the wall. See that turns yellow? That means the test didn't detect any lead on the walls, but can you get the card so we can double-check, please?

Ava

Sure.

Mauro

Okay, let's double-check on the card because we know that has traces of lead paint on it.

Ava

Right.

Mauro

Wow. That comes out fast. See how the pink's starting to show?

Ava

Mm-hmm.

Mauro

That means we did the test correctly, there's no lead on the walls, and we're ready to paint this room.

That sounds great. Mauro

Let's do it?

Ava

Yes,

let's do it. Mauro

Cool. I went to the paint store, picked up a pint sample of a can of paint. We chose this color using a color swatch on a blanket that stays in that room, but it's very hard to determine the color from that swatch. Well, it's good to have a big sample put on the walls because you can see how it's gonna work with the lighting in this room. What do you think about?

Ava

Yeah, I think it looks great.

Mauro

Alright, I'm happy to hear that because I already bought a whole gallon of paint.

Ava

Alright. Let's do this.

Mauro

Okay, Ava. First thing, we are gonna tape all the woodwork because we are not painting the woodwork in this room. The only thing that we're not gonna tape is the ceiling.

Ava

So why aren't we taping the ceiling?

Mauro

Uh, because it has this textured finish on -- really hard to put a tape in, get a straight cutting line right there. For this room, I select a zero-VOC paint.

Ava

Okay, what is VOCs? VOC stands for "volatile organic compound." It's chemical that is in the paint and releases on the air as the paint dries. It can cause respiratory problems. It can irritate your eyes. You also notice that this paint has no odor as you work with it. We can breathe easy, and it's also very good for a nursery room. We're starting by cutting all the way around the woodwork and the outlets. And I'm using a 2 1/2-inch angled brush. Okay. Now I'm gonna show you how to cut between the ceiling and the walls, alright? This is -- You're gonna have -- Because you have no blue tape or any yellow tape there, I'll show the easiest way to do it. Not a lot of paint on the brush, just a little bit. Oh,

okay. Okay. Mauro

Just enough. So you can come right this way.

Angle the brush about this much. Ava

Uh-huh.

Mauro

Just go very easy. There we go. Pull it down, yeah. Just go back. Nice and easy. Look at that! That's a clean, straight line. You want to keep going with the ceiling lines?

Okay. Mauro

And I'll start to roll?

Ava

Yep.

Mauro

So, you're gonna go up. Lightly. Okay. Now it comes all the way down to the bottom. Oh, in one -- Yep, all the way down. One long stroke, yeah. Now go to your side. Go to your right a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Ava, first coat is dry, so let's apply the second and final coat, okay? And I'm gonna help you cut in this time, and then we're gonna roll it, alright?

Ava

Alright.

Mauro

Wow, Ava. I love this room. What do you think about?

Ava

I think it looks amazing. It's exactly what I was looking for.

Alright. Ava

Thank you so much, Mauro.

Mauro

Thank you very much.

Kevin

Oh, good, Richard, a dryer. So I like the jeans on delicate.

Richard

Well, take your shirt off. I'll throw it in here.

Kevin

These get a hanger. What are you doing with a dryer?

Richard

I thought we'd take a minute to talk about electric dryers. People know about them. They use a lot of electricity. You know, many times, it's the biggest energy user in the house for electricity.

Kevin

When it's running, it is spiking.

Richard

And the idea is you have an oversize toaster element, and you run -- you heat up the air enough to evaporate the moisture that's in the clothes, and then you vent it to outside, and that element just stays on, stays on. You can use thousands and thousands of watts. So this is an electric heat-pumped dryer.

Kevin

You -- You love your heat pumps. You're putting them everywhere.

Richard

Well, you know, the story has always been that we need to learn to move heat, not try to make heat like an electric dryer.

Yeah. Richard

So, if you think about any heat pump, it has two components, and that's the same for an air conditioner. Just depends on which way it's going.

It has a really cold coil. Kevin

Mm-hmm.

Richard

Now, on the air-conditioning mode, that really cold coil -- warm air that's inside the building blows across the cold coil. Heat has no choice but to go into the cold and be absorbed into the refrigerant, and the byproduct of that is always condensation -- you know, the water that drips out of every air conditioner.

Yeah. Richard

Okay, and now it goes here. And outside, there is a really hot coil to dump the heat to outside that's been absorbed. All this thing does is takes these two pieces and brings them together in a heat exchanger down at the bottom of this thing.

Kevin

So, I get the heat part, right? You make a hot element, you put it next to the clothes, and that helps dry them.

That's right. Kevin

How are you using the cold air-conditioning part in this thing?

Richard

When this dryer is on, warm, dry air is fed into the cylinder where the wet clothes are. The moisture in the clothes is absorbed into the air, and that air passes over an evaporative coil, which is filled with cold refrigerant. The heat from the clothes is absorbed into the refrigerant, and the moisture from the clothes condenses on that cold coil and is pumped to a drain. The slightly warmer refrigerant is then run through a compressor, which makes it very hot. The air is then fed across another coil where the hot refrigerant is now, and that's what makes the heat that is used to dry the clothes, and the cycle repeats, and so you really keep it

all contained inside this unit. Kevin

No outdoor unit.

All right here. Richard

Absolutely.

Kevin

So, in a conventional electric dryer, when you say you have to dump that to the outside, that's what we're doing with that 4-inch --

Richard

4-inch vent to outside, and all that heat

and moisture goes to outside. Kevin

What -- How do we dump --

Richard

This doesn't have a vent. It all stays self-contained, and so the heat stays inside this unit and just moves around to make sure it works to its advantage. Now, you're still gonna have water, so there's either a drain pipe right here that can go into the drain. But if you didn't have a drain, you actually could catch the water here for up to two cycles and just dump it out. So it means this thing can go just about anywhere.

Kevin

Wow. That's pretty cool.

Richard

And there's a story in operating costs. This thing's gonna use between 40% to 50% less than an electric conventional dryer.

Kevin

Wow!

Richard

Yeah, it's a real story. And will the cycle take longer? It can. It can take -- 'Cause it's gonna move that heat around, but it's -- it's not a noticeably longer period.

Kevin

Okay.

Richard

Little care-and-feeding items here. So, everybody knows, on a dryer, that you got to make sure that you clean the lint filter, and that's the same for an electric, for a gas, or for a heat pump.

Kevin

Not everybody -- my 14-year-old does not know that.

Richard

That's right. Well, they will learn.

I'll remind him. Richard

Right. But since this thing is so dependent on airflow across the heat exchanger, this has one more piece down here, and that is at the very bottom. You got to take this out with some regularity, and you can see right here the inside of the heat exchanger. You got to make sure that stays clean using a soft-brush vacuum, you know, 'cause if you have pet dander or anything -- lint or anything in there, it's gonna clog it and make it not work.

Kevin

And new technology like this, how do we get our hands on it?

Richard

It's just arriving right now, so it's an exciting time to sort of -- If we can cut the electrical consumption in half on drying clothes, that's a big deal.

Kevin

Cool. Good information.

Richard

Alright.

Kevin

Tommy, look at you. I thought we were gonna do a "Build It." You look like you're about to deejay a party.

Chuckles

Tom

We are gonna do a "Build It." We're gonna do a "Build It" to hold this turntable right here, play some of the records that I used to listen to when I was a kid.

Kevin

Boy, you do love your Elvis, don't you?

Tom

Yeah. It was cool listening to vinyl records. You just sat around and played the tunes. It was something to do.

Kevin

And let's face it -- It's kind of coming back, right?

You can buy turntables now. Tom

Yeah.

Kevin

You can go and get the old vintage records.

People like listening to them. Tom

And there are companies that are starting to make them again.

Kevin

Alright, so I'm on board. What are you thinking?

Tom

Alright, so take a look right here.

I want to make a simple box... Kevin

Mm-hmm.

Tom

...and it's gonna have tapered legs underneath it. And I'm gonna make that box just enough to hold the turntable on top and the records underneath to stand them up.

Kevin

Gotcha. And it's sort of a modern look you got going on there.

Tom

Mid-century modern. I actually copied it from a design. I looked at some books and stuff like that from old cabinets.

Kevin

And the material you're thinking?

Tom

It's gonna be 3/4-inch oak, and this is a red oak veneer, and I bought it at the home center.

Kevin

Nice.

Tom

I bought a sheet of 3/4. It's much more than we need, but you can always use it. And we'll use 1/4-inch birch because they didn't have this in oak. But you're not gonna really see it. I'll stain it up.

Kevin

And then some solid stock, as well?

Tom

Right. This is 1x4 red oak, and I also got some 1x3 red oak. Nice thing about this is you can buy just what you need. And, basically, that is for the face frame.

Kevin

Ah, we got to cover the edge of the plywood.

Tom

Cover the edge of the plywood, but I want to simulate like a drawer front that will be underneath the table.

Kevin

Alright. Let's do it.

Tom

Alright, to get started, we're gonna rip this piece down to the depth of our cabinet, and it's gonna be 15 3/8.

Saw whirring

Tom

This one-piece will end up being our two sides, bottom, and top. Rather than cutting the pieces and dealing with the plywood edges individually, it's easier to cut them as one. We're gonna attach the solid red oak to the plywood with floating tenons, so we have to mark both of the pieces so the mortises that will hold the tenons will line up.

Saw whirring

Tom

We'll just put some wood glue into the mortises and along the edge of the plywood, then set the floating tenons into the hole. Alright, I think that's pretty good. Let's give it a few minutes for this to dry, and then we can rip it down.

Saw whirring

Tom

You may have noticed that the mortises were set off center on the edges and on the oak. The reason is, is because I want to chamfer the edge to give it a little more detail. Then we'll use a rabbeting bit to recess the back panel.

Whirring

Tom

Now I can set my track saw to 45 degrees and cut one side of each panel.

Saw whirring

Tom

After cutting one side, we turn the pieces around, and I cut the opposing miter at 45 degrees. And that'll give me my length. Okay. You good? You even?

Kevin

Yeah, I'm even.

Tom

We're going to use the floating tenons to hold all the sides together, but, this time, we'll have to cut the mortises on our miter cut, so we'll set the machine's shoe at 45 degrees.

Saw whirring

Tom

It's a lot easier to sand the inside of the box before we put it together. Now we can install our tenons and glue up our cabinet. Yeah, now...

Hammer tapping

Tom

Alright, we'll get this last clamp on here, get this all tightened up, wait about a half an hour, 45 minutes for this glue to set up, and then we should be fine without any mechanical fasteners. Alright, so this is the piece of 1x4 that will go up under the top to support it and give it a different dimension.

Saw whirring

Tom

And we'll attach that piece with the same floating-tenon system.

Saw whirring

Tom

Alright, now we're gonna cut the little molding detail to frame that upper section.

Saw whirring

Whirring stops

Whirring resumes

Tom

I'm gonna cope-cut each end of that molding. Now, a cope cut will simulate a miter, but it will actually sit on the face of the other molding. Now we'll give everything a good sanding, starting with 100-grit, and moving up to 220.

Sander whirring

Tom

Alright, so everything's been sanded, wiped it all down with a tack rag, and now I want to put a preconditioner on it so when the stain goes on the oak, it will go on evenly. Alright, the conditioner has set up, we've wiped it off, and now we're gonna stain it, and we're gonna use a thick gel stain and just brush it on and wipe it off.

Kevin

Oh,

yeah. That is thick. Tom

Yeah.

Kevin

Alright, I'm gonna wipe some of this off, Tommy.

Tom

Yep, start at the front, work your way back.

Kevin

Look at that.

Tom

Nice, huh?

Kevin

Eh?

Tom

Try to keep it nice and even. This is a high-gloss polyurethane. We'll put on about four coats, and we want to make sure it's thoroughly dry before we apply our next coat. Alright, because the leg is gonna sit at an angle off one side, we want to keep the bracket in about 2 inches from the side and 1 inch from the front because it's not gonna tip forward.

Kevin

And pre-made legs.

Tom

Right, these are tapered round legs, pretty common with a mid-century-modern design. So I got 12 inches because I want the cabinet to be at a certain height, and the 12 inches will work. Flip it over. We can adjust the leg.

Kevin

Okay, Tommy, your choice -- "G.I. Blues" or "Blue Hawaii"?

Tom

Oh, "Blue Hawaii."

Kevin

"Blue H--" Wow, "Blue Hawaii." Old school, huh?

Tom

Oh, yeah.

Richard

Wait a minute. No. No, no, no. No more Elvis. No,

no. Tom

Hey, hey, hey.

Richard

Tommy, you and your Elvis. How about Crosby, Stills & Nash -- before Young?

Tom

That's too hippie stuff. We don't need hippie.

Chuckling

Richard

"That's too hippie stuff."

Jenn

Don't knock the hippie stuff. What about a little Grateful Dead?

Richard

Are you a Deadhead?

Jenn

Not really. I just went to 35 shows and Jerry's funeral, but I'm not a Deadhead,

but -- Tom

Oh, my God. So you're a Deadhead. This is the best right here.

Kevin

Tommy, a very nice build. Well done.

Thanks for the help. Kevin

Alright, guys. So until next time, I'm Kevin O'Connor.

I'm Jenn Nawada. Richard

I'm Rich Trethewey.

Tom

And I'm Tom Silva.

Kevin

For "Ask This Old House."

Turn it up. Tom

Let's fire this thing up.

Jenn

Can we just put this one on?

Tom

No, no, "Blue Hawaii" is all we want.

Richard

Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Abram, Silva, Cook.

Kevin

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

Jenn

I'll show you the perfect garden for crafting your own cocktails. You could add these to iced tea, you could put them in daiquiris, you could put them in margaritas,

and you can put them in gimlets. Kevin

Okay.

Richard

This radiator jumped back a half an inch when the valve was disconnected. I'll show you how we bring it all together.

Mark

And this fireplace is sloppy, poorly done, and I don't even think that's the right material, but I'm gonna make it look like it belongs here.