Ask This Old House

Kevin

Today on "Ask This Old House"...

Stephanie

Thanks so much for coming to Birmingham.

Nathan

Thanks for having me. Wow, look at this space, this big open loft.

This is incredible. Stephanie

Thank you, thanks.

Nathan

I'm heading to Alabama to install a sliding barn door. Alright, I'm gonna set my end down, and you roll yours up to me.

Tom

I'll talk about the different choices when it comes to roofing material.

Mark

The key to a dry basement is getting the water away from the house as much as possible. I'll show you how to do it.

Chris

Okay, what's a dry well?

Mark

Dry well is basically just a big hole to accept all the water that we're pulling out of the house.

Ross

And, if you're gonna put solar panels on your roof, make sure you keep the squirrels away.

Kevin

But why are they chewing wires? What do they like about wires?

Ross

It's their teeth. They grow 10 inches a year.

Kevin

Their teeth do?

Ross

Yeah, it's a teething toy.

Kevin

Hi there. I'm Kevin O'Connor, and welcome back to a brand-new season of "Ask This Old House." Our team's had a little bit of a break, but now they're rested, and they're all here, ready to answer your questions, so keep 'em coming.

Richard. Richard

Hey.

Kevin

Fired up, ready to go?

Richard

Look at this guy.

Kevin

What are you working on?

Richard

New pictures of my grandson.

Look how big he's getting. Kevin

Oh, adorable.

Richard

Smart like his grandfather, too.

Kevin

Yeah, mm-hmm. But you know what? If the little man can't sweat pipe or glue some PVC,

he's no good to us. Richard

Right.

Kevin

Did you see the e-mails -- all the...

Richard

Yeah, a bunch of e-mails from people with stuff they need fixed and stuff. I'll get to it.

Kevin

It's not gonna fix itself, Richard. Get to it. Jenn, Mark, how you guys doing?

Jenn

Hey, how's it going?

Mark

Hey.

Kevin

Fired up for the new season?

We are fired up. Jenn

Totally fired up.

Kevin

Ready to get to work?

Jenn

Yeah. He's already got a project going on.

Kevin

Yeah, drainage or something?

Mark

I do, yeah, a little drainage thing I got to get at, but, uh -- and I'm on my way.

Kevin

Get at it,

get at it. Mark

I'm going, I'm going.

Kevin

The season has started.

Laughter

Kevin

Nathan, Tommy, you guys, uh, look like you're having a little coffee klatch here. You guys gonna do any work or you guys just gonna blah, blah, blah?

Tom

Yeah, we've got everything together here. We're ready to go,

sonny. Kevin

What are you working on?

Nathan

Well, I'm heading to Alabama right now. I got my tools, so I'm ready to go.

Kevin

Wow,

good for you. Nathan

See you, guys.

Tools ready to go. Tom

Don't be so surprised.

New guy. Tom

New guy, and he's ready.

Kevin

We need some more new guys.

Tom

We do. I know -- well, yeah, we could use some new guys.

Stephanie

Well, thanks so much for coming to Birmingham.

Nathan

Thanks for having me. Wow, look at this space, this big open loft.

This is incredible. Stephanie

Thank you. Thanks, yeah, my husband and I own the building. We did the renovations, and we've been living here for about a year.

Nathan

Wow, you guys really knocked it out of the park with the industrial look -- the open ductwork and the elevated workspace. But you wrote me about a door?

Stephanie

Yeah, it's in the master bedroom.

Let's take a look. Stephanie

Okay. So, as you can see, the architect designed this space with the open concept in mind, which is great.

We love that. Nathan

Yeah.

Stephanie

We do have a door to the bedroom, but we have this half wall here, so everything's completely open, including the bathroom. So, we have an en suite bathroom, and we were fine with no door at first, but I think now we'd like a little extra privacy.

Nathan

I can understand that. You really want to separate the bedroom from the bathroom.

Stephanie

Yeah, right.

Nathan

But, uh, what do you have in mind for a door?

Stephanie

We were thinking maybe a sliding barn door would look really cool in the space.

Nathan

Oh, that'd be a good look. You have a great usable wall right here for it, and the kits they have now -- nice large doors with the black iron hardware on it...

Okay. Nathan

It'll really go along with that industrial look that you have.

Stephanie

Yeah.

Nathan

So let me pull some measurements and get some -- I'll go get the kit, and we'll get started.

That sounds great. Nathan

Alright. So, here's the door, Stephanie. What do you think?

Stephanie

I think it looks great.

Nathan

You like it?

Stephanie

Yeah, I do.

Nathan

This is actually an alder wood, which is kind of a relative of the birch.

Okay. Nathan

It's nice. It's got a lot of character to it. You can see -- this is this hardware here that we're gonna use. These are the rollers, and they're already pre-drilled up top. So we'll mount that. We got a nice big handle that we'll mount about

32 inches up off the floor. Stephanie

Okay.

Nathan

And as you can see, it comes unfinished. It actually has a lot of knots and some character to it. We could clear-coat that and kind of highlight it, or we could stain it a little darker and hide those. What do you think you'd want to do?

Stephanie

I like the idea of going a little bit darker.

Nathan

Little darker?

Stephanie

Yeah, I think

that would blend in well. Nathan

I like that, too. In this kit, they supplied us with a piece of 1x4 stock, and this is actually the mounting board that we're gonna apply across the top. It's gonna do two things for us. First is we're gonna be able to screw anywhere. We're gonna get right into our studs, get right into structure. Second is it's gonna give us a build-out so we can avoid any base or trim around your opening, and one thing I noticed, though, is when I put the level on your wall, at about 6 feet, you're out just under 3/4".

Stephanie

Oh, my goodness, you're right.

Nathan

So, you can imagine, if we hang that door, it's gonna want to naturally fall plumb on the track, and it's gonna hit onto your base or onto your casing, so to compensate, I'm gonna pad that out another 3/4", and that'll give us the ability to clear all the problems.

Okay. Nathan

Alright. So, I like to apply my stain with a rag, and that works really well for the flat-surface areas, and then, if you have some real heavy areas, we'll come back with a fresh rag and strike those off.

Stephanie

Alright. Do you think we just need one coat or more than one?

Nathan

We'll just start with one. This is a pretty dark stain. I think this alder will really take it well. Nice part about this water base is there's quick drying time and not much odor.

Stephanie

Yeah, it doesn't smell at all. I was kind of surprised by that.

Nathan

And for the really tight spots,

we can use a cotton swab. Stephanie

Okay.

Nathan

Bring it up to your line. I've already located the studs and pre-drilled those locations through our mounting board, which makes setting the screws go quicker. I'm gonna set the first screw, and then I'm gonna put the level back on. I'm gonna put the level across it, and we'll just double check to make sure that we're running level. Perfect right there.

Machinery whirring

Nathan

Alright, here is the steel track that the door is gonna roll on, and, to gain a little space between that and our board, We're gonna use these wall spacers that are gonna go right below these predrilled holes, then we're gonna sandwich it all together.

Stephanie

Okay.

Nathan

This mounting board attaches to our build-out with screws.

Machinery whirring

Nathan

I've left this board long and mitered the ends so we can add a mitered return piece on the corners for a finished look. I want to pre-drill before I set the trim nails so I don't split the wood.

Machinery whirring

Nathan

Then we tighten up these lag screws with a socket wrench. I want to set them all loosely to start... Alright, we'll work our way down....and then we can cinch them up at the end. Alright, so these are the stops. There's a left and a right, and these are pretty important, 'cause these are gonna keep the door from rolling off the end. But, also, you can adjust them, so if you wanted the door to stop a little bit further back or a little bit past, you can fine-tune it. Alright, the stain's dry. Let's go ahead and attach the hardware. Alright, nice and tight?

Stephanie

Yeah, it looks good.

Nathan

Alright, let's go hang it up. Alright, I'm gonna set my end down, and you roll yours up to me. Perfect. Alright, we can position it. Alright, we're gonna bring it in and hook the rollers right on that track. Alright, perfect. There it is. It's rolling.

Stephanie

Yeah. It looks great.

Nathan

Nice. And the last step is to add this floor guide. I'm gonna set it right at the edge of the door, so when it closes either way, it's still covered. I'll put it down, trace one side. I take the door off, secure it, and then put the door back on. The floor guide is installed, and I also added these -- anti-jump locks up top, and what that does is it fills the space between the track and the door so that the rollers can't jump off of the track. If you ever need to, you can flip those out,

take the door off. Stephanie

Awesome.

Nathan

Now give it a try, see what you think.

Stephanie

Okay. Oh,

it's perfect. Nathan

Nice.

Stephanie

It's perfect, and it blends in so well with the room. Gives us some extra privacy. It's great.

I'm glad you like it. Stephanie

Thank you. Thanks so much for coming to Alabama.

Nathan

Thanks for having me.

Kevin

Tommy, we're talking roofing materials today, and you have installed your share of roofs over the years.

Tom

Far too many to count, Kevin.

Kevin

And most of them were probably with asphalt shingles, the most common roofing material.

Tom

The most common roofing material. And, actually, three-tab asphalt shingles were very common.

Kevin

Mm-hmm.

Tom

And now they have what is called architectural shingles, which instead of having three individual tabs, you now have a shingle that's built up without any slots. And they also have these in different thicknesses

or different grades. Kevin

Right. And so, this is a cost-effective roof, which is one of the reasons why it's the most popular.

Tom

Yep.

Kevin

You can get what in terms of life span out of it, 10 years, 15 years?

Tom

You can get 20 years -- 15, 20 years easily. Some of them are saying 25 on the basic shingle.

Kevin

Right. And then you can upgrade to a higher-grade shingle and buy a longer warrantee?

Tom

Up to 50 years. Again, that's the thickness of the shingle, so it's gonna cost more money for the shingles -- it's gonna cost a little more money for labor

because it's a heavier material. Kevin

Alright. The other type of shingle roof that we see a lot around here in New England is a wooden shingle.

Tom

Oh, yeah.

Kevin

Cedar is a common material. It's been used for many, many years, and when done correct, you can get a lot of life out of it. A wood roof basically is installed. It has to get wet. When it gets wet, it swells, and that's what makes it watertight. But, first, the shingle has to get wet. Right. But it also has to dry out -- otherwise, we're gonna get rot, we're gonna get mold, mildew.

Right. Kevin

And that drying process is critical for the installation.

Tom

Very critical -- that's why the old Yankees would put it on what is called skip sheathing, where there were wide gaps between the boards to get plenty of air underneath it. But, today, they're not doing skip sheathing -- you're doing plywood. The shingles can't lay on the plywood -- they can't lay on the felt paper. So now they have venting materials that come in rolls and basically lifts the shingles off of the substrate, allowing them to dry underneath.

Kevin

In terms of cost, you could be paying twice or more for a wood roof than asphalt, right?

Tom

I would say most cases, a lot more -- more than double.

Kevin

Yeah. And then in terms of life span, how long can you get out of a good wood roof?

Tom

When done right and depending on the location of the roof -- trees, no trees, high-wind area -- you could get -- you could get 50 years out of it.

Kevin

Nice. That's cool. Metal roofs is another material, one of my favorites.

It's kind of bulletproof. Tom

Yeah.

Kevin

I mean, it is just this one big, long, continuous sheet of metal. Well, I mean, it's actually got seams, but everything is connected.

Tom

Well, the seams are running up the roof...

Kevin

Vertical, yeah.

Tom

...as opposed to horizontally.

Kevin

Which is great, because if the wind starts blowing, you know, even a well-installed asphalt or wooden shingle, you still have the opportunity for wind to drive water up underneath. But the metal roof -- it's just continuous all the way.

Tom

It's continuous all the way, less chance of that roof leaking under windy conditions and any conditions. In New England, we get a lot of snow. So the snow can slide right off the roof. In some cases, you have to make barriers to stop it from sliding in entryways 'cause you don't want to get hit with it.

Kevin

And several different choices of material, as well.

Tom

Steel to galvanized, to Galvalume, to copper.

Right. Tom

Lead-coated copper. It can go on and on.

Kevin

Way more expensive than an asphalt roof.

Tom

Depending on the material, it could be five times more.

Kevin

And in terms of durability, though, we can get...

Tom

You can get a hundred years out of it.

That's nice. Tom

Yeah.

Kevin

And then, the other type of roof to talk about are tile roofs -- clay tiles, or up here, we see a lot of slate roofs. They look beautiful.

Tom

Right, that's a beautiful roof, and it will last a long time. The problem is, is you have to build for the added weight of that roof.

Kevin

Those are heavy materials.

Tom

Right. So if you have a shallow roof, as opposed to a steep-pitch roof, the structure has to be different to accommodate that weight.

Kevin

Got ya. Alright, well, good overview, Tommy.

Thank you very much. Tom

My pleasure.

Kevin

Hey,

Ross. Ross

Hey, Kevin.

Kevin

Solar, okay. So, what are we talking about today -- improved efficiencies, new technology? What do you got for us?

Ross

Troubleshooting.

Kevin

What?

Ross

Yeah, troubleshooting.

Kevin

Really?

Ross

It doesn't happen often, but occasionally, you hear of failures of wires.

Kevin

Man!

Ross

And look at this. So, this came off of a rooftop, solar array. 20 panels total -- This is one of them. Look at that.

Kevin

That is completely shredded. What the heck caused that?

Nibble marks. Kevin

That a clue?

Squirrels. Kevin

You gotta be kidding me.

Yeah. Kevin

They like wires, too?

Ross

So if you think about this installation, up on a roof, you got the frame, you got an air gap between it and the roof, and that's a perfect place for squirrels to get in behind the panels.

Kevin

But why are they chewing wires? What do they like about wires?

Ross

It's their teeth. They grow 10 inches a year.

Kevin

Their teeth do?

Ross

It's -- yeah, it's a teething toy.

Laughing

Get out. Ross

Yeah, they love plastic, and they want to get right through it,

and that's what you get. Kevin

So they have to chew.

Ross

They're just chewing away, yep.

Kevin

And I presume this means

the panel's completely shot. Ross

It's compromised, yeah. Yeah, so in that installation, all 20 panels got replaced. 12 of the 20 completely failed. They also go after the main bus wiring and the inverter wiring. And you can see they went right through.

Kevin

We could not be seeing the colored wires right here.

Ross

It should be solid black like that.

Kevin

Wow, that is unbelievable.

Ross

So compromised completely.

Kevin

So what's the solution? 'Cause I've chased a lot of squirrels in my days, and they're hard to get rid of.

Ross

The simple solution is a mesh barrier. So it's like chicken wire, it gets mounted around the perimeter of the entire solar array, and it basically become a block between the panels and the roof.

So cage 'em out. Ross

Try to keep 'em out. Thank goodness this homeowner had monitoring, so they could actually see that there was a problem and 12 panels out of the 20 had been knocked out. If they didn't have monitoring, they wouldn't have known, and it could have been years before they actually got noticed.

Kevin

Just squirrel food for 20 years.

Ross

That's right.

Kevin

So, whose nickel is all this done on?

Ross

So, on PPAs and solar leases, it's on the solar provider.

Kevin

Okay, the person who owns the equipment.

Ross

The people -- yeah, exactly. And then, if it's a home-owned, if it's an owned system, it's on the homeowner.

Kevin

Right, got it. Alright. Well, good information, and, well, now we know.

It's cheap insurance. Kevin

Yeah, thank you, Ross.

Mark

Chris, great backyard.

Chris

Thank you. So right now, we have a French drain going around the perimeter of the foundation.

Mark

Okay.

Chris

And also a sump pump in the basement. So what's usually happening is when we get a lot of this heavy rain, the sump pump's just pumping out of this pipe that was left by the previous owner, and it's all collecting by the bottom of the steps.

Mark

Right, okay. The first thing I -- oop, there it goes, right there.

Chris

Yeah. Yeah.

Mark

Wow, that's a lot of water right there. Okay, so we're gonna have to control that. The grade is all wrong. The pipe is short, so you can see that it's not taking the water far enough away. But I can see at the bottom of the stairs where you have the wood, it's probably where ice will build up in the wintertime. Spring, summer, and fall, you're probably tracking mud into the house, which, obviously, is not desirable.

Chris

Exactly. And it always seems like the pump's running forever.

Mark

Yeah, when the water is ejected from the house, it kind of circulates its way back to the bottom of that foundation and then gets spit back out, and that cycle continues. That's probably why you see the pump on as much as you do.

Chris

Yeah, it always sounds like that thing's running.

Mark

That's right. So what we want to do is take all of this away from the house. So I think we need to trench over here and bring everything this way, and then, hopefully, gravity will take care of the rest.

That sounds great. Mark

Alright.

Let's get going. Chris

Perfect.

Mark

Alright, so we're gonna make a few changes. The first one is we're going to increase the size of the pipe from three inches to four inches. That's just because of the volume of water

we have coming out of the house. Chris

Okay.

Mark

Secondly, we're gonna make sure we bury this pipe. We don't want to trip over it. We don't want to bump it with the lawnmower, so we do want to bury it. Thirdly, you're not too far from the house, which is our original problem. You're only 10 feet. So we're gonna take this 10-foot. We're going to extend it another 10 feet, which will give us 20 feet of solid pipe.

Chris

Okay.

Mark

So that way, we know we're not gonna have any backlash of the water going back into the pump.

Chris

Sure. Now, what's these perforations for?

Mark

So this is gonna be the third 10-foot extension, and these perforations are gonna handle any overflow that we have coming off the house. And then, eventually, make its way down here, which is gonna be a dry well.

Chris

Okay, what's a dry well?

Mark

Dry well is basically just a big hole to accept all the water that we're pulling out of the house. It's gonna be about 4x4, so if it does end up percolating and overflowing a little, gravity is gonna take it away from the house. So that's what we're gonna do. But what we're gonna use to fill the dry well is this 3/4-inch stone. And that's going to allow the water to disperse easily throughout the dry well.

Perfect. Mark

Alright? So why don't we get some digging tools and get going?

Let's do it. Mark

Alright. Alright, the first thing I need you to do is just cut this turf. I'm gonna start here, go down that way. You stick to that side. And we're just gonna cut it all the way down. This is soft dirt.

Chris

Now, how far down are we going?

Mark

We'll end up going about 8 or 12 inches down. Alright, as we get closer to the perforated pipe, we're gonna want to go a little deeper and a little wider. That's going to allow us to use more gravel, which will help us with the flow. We want to carefully scrape off the grass and set it aside, so we can replant it later. So what I want to do now is just take the dirt, put it there. 'Cause when we're done with all this, what we're gonna do is level out all the spots that have been damaged by the water overflow.

Chris

Great.

Mark

So, Chris, just remember, as we get closer to the dry well, we're gonna want to keep a pitch on the pipe. So you're gonna end up going a little bit deeper.

Chris

Perfect.

Mark

Alright, we're getting down to the business end of this trench. Let me break it up a little with this pick. Alright, I think the depth is good enough. Now, the next thing we're gonna do is fill this hole with the 3/4-inch stone. But before I do that, I want to add this landscape fabric. This is just gonna keep the topsoil from infiltrating the 3/4-inch stone and clogging up the dry well. So it's a very important piece. Now, this only has to go as far as the perforated pipe. I want to build up the 3/4 stone a few inches at a time, compacting each layer with a hand tamper.

Thumping

Wheels squeaking

Mark

Throw it right in. Okay, I'll take another one right away.

Chris

Sounds good.

Mark

Alright, Chris, we want to put a bed of that stone down before put the pipe, so give me a little here.

Chris

Alright.

Mark

Good. Move her down. Just pass me that pipe, Chris.

Chris

Sure.

Mark

Alright. You see that quarter bubble right there?

Chris

Yep.

Mark

That indicates to me that we're gonna get a 1/4-inch

pitch every foot. Chris

Okay.

Mark

So that ought to be plenty to get us down to the dry well.

Chris

Great.

Mark

Now that we have the pipe all glued together, let's get the 3/4-inch stone. Back up, Chris. Alright, move down. Great. We'll take one more. Alright. Grab that end. You're gonna hold it. I'm gonna walk it down. We're gonna put it onto the stone, and then we'll fold the other fabric on top of it.

Alright. Mark

Alright? That's it. Alright, if you can just hold that like that... I'm gonna add a little stone just to hold that down, and then we'll get some soil on top of that.

Chris

Sounds good.

Mark

That's good. Just make sure you keep it low enough so we can put the grass back.

Chris

Sure.

Mark

That looks good, though.

Thumping

Mark

One of the most important things we did today was we put this cap onto the four-inch pipe to adapt it to that discharge pipe of two inches.

Chris

Okay.

Mark

That's gonna keep the leaves, the debris -- everything out of there so we're clog-free in the pipe. The other thing we did that was important is we took the extra dirt from the trench, and we kind of spread it out all over the grade. We knocked down some peaks, we picked up some valleys, and basically leveled out what we could.

Chris

Okay.

Mark

So all you're gonna have to do with these areas is just sprinkle some seed, get the hose out, keep it wet. And then, in a week or so, you'll never know we were here.

Chris

It looks great. Thank you so much.

Mark

Alright,

Chris. Take care. Chris

Thanks.

Kevin

Nice dry basement for Chris. He's gonna be happy, right?

He is. Kevin

So, in the past, when we've installed dry wells with Roger, he's put in something like this, which, as you know, there's nothing in here -- just a big void.

And you surround it with gravel. Mark

Right.

Kevin

Why not this versus what you used?

Mark

You know what? I just didn't need it. This was a big lot. I had a lot of space to put the water. I would use this for probably a tighter lot where I didn't have the space to run the water.

Yep. Mark

So that's basically why.

Kevin

So more capacity, but like you said,

you didn't need it. Mark

I didn't need it.

Kevin

Alright. Good information. Thank you. Alright, we are off to a brand-new season, and we'd love to hear from you, so keep those letters and those e-mails coming. Until next time, I'm Kevin O'Connor...

Mark

I'm Mark McCullough.

Kevin

...for "Ask This Old House." So, you don't need this?

Mark

Nah, just throw it.

Kevin

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

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.