This Old House

Kevin

Today on "This Old House"...

Richard

New technology will stop air infiltration on our entire project.

Jordan

Just got to hit start here.

Richard

Now, how long will it take to pressurize and seal it all up?

Jordan

About 90 minutes.

Tom

And we put the finishing touch on a wall system that's seven layers deep.

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!

Man

See this main roof form? We're just gonna pull that forward so it's even where this existing deck is.

Kevin

Definitely says mid-century modern.

The money's in the detail. Kevin

That is beautiful.

Kevin

Hi, there. I'm Kevin O'Connor. And welcome back to "This Old House" here in Jamestown, Rhode Island. This is our bungalow project, and we're taking it from about 1,000 square feet and doubling it to almost 2,000 square feet.

Now, you can see that the framing is complete, and we're pretty far along with the rough plumbing and electrical. Now, our homeowner is trying to get a home that is net-zero, and that means that the house will only consume as much energy as it can make, and to get there, we have got to get this house really airtight. Well, Richard has found a new technology that's gonna help us do that.

Richard

Air infiltration is a constant battle as we try to make a building energy-efficient, and even with new construction, there are plenty of places where there are cracks, penetrations, places where air can leave the building, heat that you've paid for, and cold air can come in. Now, historically, we've always chased after it with caulking and weatherstripping, but what if there was a way that we could seal every single crack in a building? It would be a game-changer. Jordan Critz is gonna show us this new technology.

Now, it's not exactly new technology, is it?

Jordan

No, this has been around for a little while as far as the concept in the duct systems.

Richard

Right, we've used it on duct systems to seal them up tight.

Jordan

Yeah, so we use positive pressure, basically, to put a sealant inside and identify those leaks and seal them with the positive pressure.

Richard

So you got your blower door test. How's our existing house? This is new construction.

Jordan

Sure. We just completed our test, and we're at 3.8 ACH50.

Richard

So ACH, that is air changes per hour -- how much air would leak out of the building when you're pressurizing it, right?

Mm-hmm. Richard

So what's the worst?

Jordan

Sure. I've seen them as high as in the 20s.

Richard

Okay. So 3.87, what's that equivalent to?

Jordan

That'd be the equivalent to probably this window being open about five inches or so.

Richard

Under pressure. That's a lot of heat leaving out. Okay. All right, so what's the prep that you have to do?

Jordan

Sure, so the prep process, we'll actually tape off the windows so that the sealant doesn't actually seal the windows if they do, in fact, leak some.

Richard

You got to seal every single opening, anything that's gonna leave to outside.

Jordan

Yes, that will eventually be closed off,

correct. Richard

Okay.

Jordan

So, Richard, what we're going to do is use this hole where the dead bolt will eventually be to simulate an air leak, and we are going to put this mesh here, and we'll actually be able to see the technology seal this.

Richard

Seal that up,

okay. Jordan

Correct.

Richard

Good. We'll come back and check that when we're done.

Jordan

Here's the basic setup.

Here's our blower door. Richard

Yeah. You have the fan right there. Yeah.

Jordan

So this is what we're gonna use to put the positive pressure in. Here's the laptop that essentially is controlling the whole system and telling everybody what to do. This is a pump system inside of this box here that's going to --

Richard

To spray the material in?

Jordan

Yeah. It's gonna pull the material and pump it through the lines to the spray nozzle, and then this is actually the material here, the sealant.

Richard

Oh, there it is right there. So it looks a little bit like paint in that condition.

Very similar. Richard

All right. You ready to go?

Jordan

Yeah.

Just got to hit start here. Richard

Okay, great. Now, how long will it take to pressurize and seal it all up?

About 90 minutes. Richard

Okay, cool. All right. So it's been about an hour. How'd we do?

We are down to 1 ACH50. Richard

Wow. So we started at what, 3.8, just under 4?

Mm-hmm. Richard

All right. So that means we can have smaller heating and cooling equipment, right?

Jordan

Exactly. We can right-size the mechanicals to the home.

Richard

Perfect. All right. Let's go check the door, how we did.

Jordan

Okay.

Richard

All right, so it's almost completely blocked off. That is really cool.

Jordan

Pretty good.

Richard

So you're gonna pull that.

Jordan

Let's get this off of there.

Richard

Look at that. The bull's-eye, sealed up perfect. Mm-hmm. Great.

So is there any place where we can see it going through to the outside?

Jordan

Here we go, right here under the stairs.

Richard

Ah, so look at that. Between the old boards, it found a crack even though there's insulation outboard of it.

That is amazing. Jordan

Yeah.

Richard

It finds everything. So what about existing buildings? Do you have to just do new work?

Jordan

No. This can be used in retrofit applications, as well. Just need to protect the finished horizontal surfaces in the space.

Richard

And that's probably got as much possibilities as anything. There's a lot of leaky houses out there.

A lot. Richard

All right. So once we get it this tight, there's one more thing we got to think about, right? Getting fresh air into this building,

mechanical ventilation. Jordan

You got it.

Richard

All right. That is really something.

Jeff

All right, Kevin. Nice job.

Thanks. Jeff

All right. So the reason that we sweep this place top to bottom and clear out all the debris is so that we can get this place laid out so that all of our next step, all the trades come in -- They're gonna want to poke holes everywhere. They're gonna destroy this place in about a week, so we got a lot of built-ins, a lot of specialty things going on that we want to get laid out so that we don't have ducts in the way and returns and thermostat wiring and all that kind of stuff, so the better we can do that now, this is the last chance we're gonna see this uncovered. We're gonna set ourselves up for success.

So the first thing we're gonna do is doors. So we'll cross-reference the plan for door swing, and then let's just check it in the field here. So this door on this bathroom showing a right-hand, and it looks like a right-hand door will work well here. So I'm just gonna check measurement for a rough opening.

2/10.5, and that's perfect for a 2/8 door. And we know it's a right-hand because we put our butt to the butt, and whichever way your hand swings is the door swing. So that's a right-hand. So I'm gonna label this side as the hinge side.

I'm gonna write 2/8, so that way, when they come to measure for doors, that it's there. And then I'm gonna indicate which way the door's gonna swing, so that way, when the electrician comes in, the first thing he's gonna want to do is, "Where can I put my switch?" So now he knows he can put a switch on here. Had we not done this, he could have guessed and put the switch here. Next thing you know, the door opens, and you never discover that until the finish.

All right, next thing we're gonna do is we're gonna lay out the bathrooms. So we'll start with the shower here, and this is a 48x32-inch shower. I'm gonna mark that there. We've got 32.

Okay, and then 32 here. All right. So that means we need a blocker there for our shower glass. All right, so this wall is our valve wall, so we're gonna let the plumbers know that the valve is on this side.

All right, and then the shower ends here, so we're gonna want a block for a backer for our shower glass right there. So the opposite side here, we've got the toilet up against that outside wall there. So we know a toilet rough is 18 inches off of one side, so we're gonna go 18 1/2 to account for drywall, and, fortunately, that's gonna work well with that joist right there.

Barker

Okay.

Jeff

So I'm gonna measure 18 off of that center line. That gives us a total of 36 inches for that toilet location. So the next thing we're gonna do is the vanity, and that is what, Kevin?

Barker

54x20.

Jeff

Okay. So we got 54 from this mark. So I try to make it painfully obvious so that anybody can see so there's no mistakes. All right, Kevin, the next thing we're gonna do you're gonna really appreciate when we go to do finish work.

We're gonna mark all the stud locations on the floor so, that way, once the drywall is over, we know where every stud is in the room. All right, so five seconds' worth of work, and it'll save us an hour of laying out studs at the finish.

Barker

Awesome.

Kevin

Our barn is a garage and a little workshop on the first floor and then some living space on the second floor, but the main reason this building was built was to serve as a place to put our solar panels, and that's gonna go a long way to making our house net-zero. But you can see what's going on with the roof here. The solar company would not install the arrays on wooden shingles, so in the center, there are asphalt shingles, and then around the perimeter, the wood shingles to match the rest of the house. It was designed to face due south, which is perfect for solar.

The only problem is we've got ourselves a lot of shade, so we've called in landscape architect Tom Ryan. Tom,

nice to meet you. Ryan

Nice to meet you, Kevin.

Kevin

So what is the plan for the trees here? Are they coming down? Are we cutting them back? How do you get us some sun?

Ryan

Well, a combination of the two. The trees that are on our property can come down. The ones that are on other people's property hanging over we'll cut back.

Kevin

Okay, and when that's done, will we get enough sun on our roof for the solar that we need?

Ryan

Well, that's due south, so we'll get really good sun midday, all through the afternoon, and with some trimming over here, we'll also get some morning sun, so it should be enough.

Kevin

All right, so what did the homeowners ask from you in terms of what they needed from the yard and the design?

Ryan

Well, this is a family that does projects, and so they were looking for an area to do projects, kind of the spillover projects from the barn, a place to spill out and be worked on out here. And also, they've got two young boys, and a place for two young boys to get out and run around. So the combination of those two got us to a design which has kind of a more formal backyard and a working side yard.

Kevin

So we are right about here right now. This is the domestic working side. What types of jobs and tasks do you envision going on back here?

Ryan

Well, right off the porch over here at the corner, there's a place for a grill, which is close to the kitchen. Around the corner, there'll be a place for trash cans and whatnot. Well, there's a fence that will be in line with the front of the house and tie in over here to the fence that goes along the property line.

Kevin

And then obviously a table seating area here in the middle, a place for dining in the evening, possibly.

Ryan

Yes, as well as a table that's not so precious, you couldn't do woodworking on it.

Kevin

Okay, so all the domestic activities, as you call it, happen behind this fence, and then we've got sort of more of a formal front yard. Let's take a look at that. That fence sort of goes right here.

Ryan

Yep.

Kevin

And then all of what you've got in the backyard starts kind of off of the porch here.

Ryan

Yes. So the center of the formal space in the back is a big oval of grass, and outlining that oval of grass is a line of perennial flowers that come and go through the season and then a hedge, which is up about this high and will create an edge to that oval space.

Kevin

Oval, huh?

Ryan

Yeah, oval. We found that oval looks a lot bigger than it actually is, takes up a little less space, and is still pretty functional.

Kevin

Feels like more lawn, less mowing.

Exactly. Kevin

Okay.

Ryan

Directly across from the screened-in porch will be a circular area of pavement with a fire pit on it.

Like that. Ryan

Yep. There's a couple little gaps in the hedge to little spaces in the corners.

Kevin

I noticed that, and you've got them actually labeled Theo's room, Nate's room. What's that idea?

Ryan

Well, we're giving the boys a place outside that's all theirs to do whatever they want, and it's behind the hedge. It's separated from the neighbors by a hedge, and it's this place where you just go build stuff.

Kevin

Yep, not gonna be pristine in those two little rooms.

Ryan

Not gonna be pristine at all.

Kevin

Okay. Fence line continued throughout, and then along the main road here, what's going on?

Ryan

Well, on the main road, there are some remnant pieces of a privet hedge here, and we're going to transplant some of those and supplement them to close this off so you don't feel like you're in the street for the most part, but we're gonna leave a gap right here in the middle, and the gap will have a gate in it so that you have a way to get in and out, you know, have that little bit of peekaboo, but you'll have a lot of privacy.

Kevin

Okay, and then this takes us along the main road to what is sort of the formal front of the house. What are the design elements that I'm looking at?

Ryan

In front of the house, we wanted to set this as the formal front from the house to the rest of the world, so we're gonna put in a picket fence along the road with some flowers at the base. We're gonna put a trellis over the walk to the front door and some flowering shrubs along the front of the house and then a bit of hedge at the end to kind of close off the front yard space from the asphalt driveway.

Kevin

That's terrific, so we've got front yard, sort of big backyard and domestic side back there. Got a little bit of something of everything here.

It does. It does. Kevin

Well, thank you, Tom.

Appreciate it. Ryan

You're welcome.

Kevin

It's not often that our homeowner is also our architect, and the good news is, is that Don knows exactly what he wants. The bad news is, Don knows exactly what he wants, and he's actually drawn up how we are gonna finish off this little knee wall and these structural posts here on the front porch, and Jeff and Garrett are in the shop trying to figure it out. Hey, Jeff.

Jeff

Kevin, how are you?

Kevin

All right. So some figuring to do to build this porch railing system?

Jeff

Yeah, so we've got a decorative column wrap that's going on our, you know, 6x6 posts that are existing there. We've got a wrap that goes around it.

Kevin

And it's sort of flat and straight at the bottom but then kind of arcs into this flare up at the top. And then what are these sitting on?

Jeff

They're gonna sit on this rail cap, and he's got this rail cap drawn that comes to a full point, so we had to figure out what that taper is. So let me show you.

Kevin

So everything custom in this case.

Jeff

Yeah. This -- We're gonna start with this material, but we're gonna end up with this.

Kevin

So we're talking mahogany.

Yep. Kevin

And you've got a -- What is that, a full 2 inches?

Jeff

Full 2 inches, 8/4.

Kevin

8/4. All right.

Jeff

And then we're gonna clean it up, and then, basically, we're going to create this profile here.

Kevin

So that's a solid piece, tapered on both sides.

Yep. Kevin

How are we making this?

Jeff

Yeah, so, obviously, the router bit's not gonna work, so we're actually gonna use a planer.

Kevin

Oh, okay.

Jeff

But in order to do that, a planer will plane material flat, we've got to create a tapered sled to run this material through where this side is down at the origin and then this side is up. That creates an 11-degree bevel so that when we slide the material through, the planer blade's gonna cut this material away. We're gonna put it in the other side. We're gonna slide it through, and we're gonna keep working until we get to the center line.

Kevin

That what you're looking for?

Jeff

Yeah, so the bevel's right in the center now. So we created a template on-site of the actual conditions, so this is exactly what we want to replicate.

Kevin

These holes represent where our 6x6 structural posts are gonna go?

Jeff

Exactly. All right, that's where the post goes in. All right, so remember, that column top had that sweep to it. So the way we created that was we actually started with a piece of 1x8, and we're gonna add these pieces with pocket screws, and we just made these on the band saw.

Kevin

So that gives you two sides, and you make it three-dimensional how?

Jeff

So those two pieces that we just made create the front and the back. In order to create the side, we've got to make it bend to follow this curve. So we milled this material down to about 3/16 of an inch, and then we've created these jigs that we can clamp together right on the jobsite so that we can glue it and assemble it in place.

Kevin

So we're off to the jobsite.

Jeff

Let's go.

Kevin

Garrett, you've already got yourself a plan for how we're gonna slip this over those posts?

We have a plan. Kevin

What is it?

Garrett

What we're gonna do is we're gonna remove a section of the post.

Kevin

So you've already cut those away, right?

Garrett

We've cut these out, and we created a shiplap spline. So it's gonna go back in again...

Kevin

Clever.

Garrett

... after we slide the cap over the top.

Kevin

All right. Coming up to you. Oh, I like that right there. Okay.

So that gives us this continuous look to this cap, and then the treatment for these, that pillar right there sits on top?

Garrett

It'll sit right on top as soon as we put these all right back in again.

Kevin

Let's have a look. Oh, yeah. That's pretty sweet. What do you think, Jeff?

Jeff

I think it's gonna be good.

Kevin

I do too. All right. So six more to go.

Jeff

Six more to go.

Kevin

Back in the '20s, our house was covered in white cedar shingles. At some point after that, maybe when they started to fail, the house was covered in asbestos siding. Well, both of those layers were taken off, and now we're going back to the white cedar shingle that was on here originally. So we've got ourselves a traditional material sort of on the outbound side, but going over a very untraditional wall system here, this net-zero thing we're going for.

You built us a pretty intricate wall.

Jeff

Yeah. So this is a little model that we made so that you can illustrate all the components. We've got 2x6 exterior wall spaced 24 inches on center. That limits the frequency of our thermal bridge, thereby allowing us more insulation per lineal foot of wall than wood.

So that's gonna get filled with open-cell insulation.

All in here. Jeff

Yep. Then we've got 7/16 OSB as our sheathing, an air and water barrier applied to that. Then we've got an engineered panel here, which is 2 inches of polyiso insulation adhered to a structural 7/16 panel with another barrier of impregnated air-and-water barrier. On top of that, we've got this cedar fabric, which creates a drainage plane behind our shingles.

And then, lastly, our white cedar shingles, which are predipped with bleaching oil.

Kevin

Beautiful, and so, Tommy, what's the total R-value that this system gives us?

Tom

The total R-value is almost 30 right in this wall.

Kevin

And code is what?

Tom

Code is 21.

So we're well above that. Tom

We're well above it. But the big deal here is this continuous band of rigid insulation. It bridges the whole system so that there's less chance of air moving and air escaping right there.

Kevin

I mean, and so this is a very strong wall assembly when we're going towards that net-zero, keeping the conditioned air in the house

and the weather outside. Tom

Absolutely.

Kevin

Okay, so sidewall shingling, that's our job for today?

Tom

That's right. All right, so what we have are white cedar shingles that have been dipped, so all five sides are coated with a bleaching oil, which is really nice to protect the wood and makes it last. If you notice the joints, they're actually staggered, and there's a separation in here also, and that's important because you don't want water to migrate between these joints, especially on the starter course right here. There's two reasons why you do a starter course.

Number one, you want to be able to hide that joint on the first course, but also you want to get the angle of the shingle to be correct with the rest of the wall, and you want to nail them as close to the reveal mark as possible, so you want to keep it up. You just don't want to keep it too low.

Kevin

Are you using staples there, Tommy?

Tom

Stainless-steel staples. Staples really hold well. And the key when you're installing shingles on a side wall and a roof is you don't want to use too many. Keeping them from the edge of the shingle 3/4 to an inch.

This case, we'll just nail this one here because we can slide the next shingle behind it. You wouldn't be able to do it otherwise. And three staples at the most, so on a real wide one, you can put three staples.

Jeff

Right there. All right.

Kevin

Another course right there. That weave's looking good. I love it. All right, Tommy.

So what's coming up next week?

Tom

Well, the homeowner wants to get involved with the project, so we're gonna help him with some built-ins.

Kevin

All right, well, until then, I'm Kevin O'Connor.

I'm Jeff Sweenor. Tom

And I'm Tom Silva.

Kevin

For "This Old House" here in Jamestown, Rhode Island. Next time on "This Old House"...

Donald

Tommy, this is a console that we're building for the powder room. I wanted to do something that was this mix of old and new.

Kevin

Richard, for years, you have told us, with a heat pump, that it has the ability to find heat even on the coldest of days.

Richard

There's still heat outside to be had. You just have to work a little harder at it.

Kevin

We've got the interior finishes. A lot of decisions need to be made.

We're ready. Kevin

All right. So where do you start?