This Old House

Kevin

Today on "This Old House"...

Amy

So, we're thinking this subway and doing some sort of, like, a mosaic accent in the middle of it.

Tom

There's holes in these floors, and we're going to patch them.

Rattling

Kevin

That's a bad sound.

Cathryn

That's a bad sign.

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!

Richard

It's five bathrooms. It's a kitchen. It's a full new mechanical. It's gonna be a biggie.

Kevin

Sounds like you guys have a plan.

Jenn

I think we do.

Laughs

Tom

The money's in the detail.

Kevin

That is beautiful. Hi, there. I'm Kevin O'Connor. And welcome back to "This Old House" here in Dorchester at our triple-decker. This is the third floor of that building. And it was damaged a year ago with fire. Most of the damage was back here in this corner, which explains why there's been so much demolition. Now, we're working hard and fast to try to get Carol, our homeowner, back into the house. She's going to be living on the second floor, her sister, Willie, is going to be on the first floor, and this third floor is going to be reserved for a tenant. Now, the fire and the water they poured on it caused a lot of damage to the plaster walls, which is why you can see much of it has been demoed here in the back of the house and the hallway. But some of the plaster damage, well, that was self-inflicted. Hey, Mauro. Bobbi, Jay. Good to see you guys again. So this is our own fault, right?

Mauro

Well, this was caused by Heath, the electrician. He needs to fish wires throughout the house.

That was necessary. Kevin

You got to have access.

Mauro

You got to have access throughout all the house.

Kevin

Alright, Bobbi and Jay are gonna help you? You're gonna show them what to do?

Mauro

I'll show them what to do. I'm sure they're gonna do a beautiful job. But this one, it's a small. Let me show you a bigger one here that we need to fix.

Kevin

Alright. Yeah, a much bigger problem out here, Mauro. And not, you know, done by our electrician.

Mauro

Absolutely. This was caused during the fire. When the people came in and they banged walls here and there, the plaster fell off, as you can see. There's some cracks going in all different directions.

So we got to fix that. Kevin

Alright. Well,

they're in good hands. Mauro

Let's go. Alright, guys, here's what we're going to do now. I'm going to show you how to start to fix that. I saved two pieces of the lath, which this piece of wood that holds the plaster together. We're going to use one of those piece on the back. We're going to put a screw at the bottom, one at the top. Same thing with this one here on this side. What this does, this will help us to secure the new patch on this wall here and cover the hole, okay? Alright, guys. We took the measurements. It's 5 inches by 11 inches. This is going to be in our opening. We're going to make it a little larger, a larger opening, so we can fit this piece in it. Just like you do a Dutchman on wood, we're going to do it for plaster repair. And then with your pencil, you're just going to scrub around all the four sides, okay? Alright, Jay, next thing you do, with a utility knife, you're going to come up here and you're going to cut on the lines, okay? Okay. I think that should be good. Let's see if that fit.

Yep. Mauro

Alright! Let's screw this piece in, and we'll be ready to patch. There we go. Drill. I've got a couple screws here for you. Here we go.

Whirring

Yep. Mauro

So, what we're going to do -- we're going to put a very thin coat of this joint compound. It's a ready mix we use for drywall and plaster seams or for small patches like this. Alright, Jay, now it's time for us to put the meshing tape. Or drywall tape. People call different names. It will keep the cracks from coming back. Remember, you got to cover the seams right there. A little bit up. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Cut it out. Alright. Next step. We're going to do another pass with joint compound. Right on top of the mesh tape. That looks good. Alright, Bobbi. Let's check this wall here. Alright. We're going to remove all the loose plaster. As you see, during the fire, this happened in banging walls here and there. The horsehair plaster is falling apart. So what we're going to do here, we're going to take just the necessary for the repair. We're not going to need to go all the way down. Alright. As soon as you feel like it's kind of hard for the plaster to be removed, that's our stop line right there, alright? Like I said, we don't need to go all the way down. As soon as you feel like, you know...

Solid tapping

Yep. Mauro

...a little knock like that. That sounds solid. So we stop right there. Alright? Well, the next thing we're going to do the same way like we did the small patch, but this time we're going to do it on a bigger scale. Put it right in there.

Whirring

Yep. Mauro

Good, good stuff. Bingo! You're going to fill up the seams first. Just like that. Yeah. Press it down a little bit. Bring it all the way here. And then you can use your knife to cut that off. Alright. Now we're going to put a light coat of compound over the tape. We're going to wait about eight hours, and we're going to come back, we're going to sand, prime, and paint.

Richard

Fire is what brought us here to Dorchester. This house had a fire, and, by code, when you rebuild a three-family like this in the city of Boston, you have to have a fire-protection system, and that means sprinklers. And that is the purview of Ronnette Taylor, our licensed sprinkler contractor. How are you?

Ronnette

How are you doing?

Richard

Good. So, where do you start in terms of sizing and installing a sprinkler system? We're going to have heads on every floor, right?

Correct. Richard

And where's the water going to come to supply that?

Ronnette

Okay. You have two options. One, you can bring it from the street, or, the other, you can put the water in storage tanks.

Richard

Okay. So, from the street, you mean -- Here's the city water main right here. This is a three-quarter copper line. You're not going to get enough with this, right? You got to go all the way to the back of the building, the top floor, to get to the top floor with, what, two heads, right?

Ronnette

Exactly.

Richard

How much water would that need?

Ronnette

The furthest remote heads have to require at least 28.1 gallons of water per minute.

Richard

Per minute. For how long are they looking for?

20 minutes. Richard

On my high-school math, that's like 500 or 600 gallons of water you need.

Exactly. Richard

You're not going to get that out of this little three-quarter...

Ronnette

There's no way you can do that in this situation.

Richard

Alright. We could do a new water main?

Ronnette

Yeah, you would bring a separate water line and bring it in, and the minimum size in this application would be 2-inch.

Richard

Alright. But that could be more than 10 grand.

Ronnette

Yeah, you're looking at maybe $10,000 to $15,000 to bring a service in.

Richard

Alright. So you must have a plan. What's your plan?

Ronnette

My plan is to put a storage system.

Richard

Ah, there they are. Look at these big beauties. What are they -- polyethylene?

Ronnette

Yeah, they're polyethylene, and they're 400 gallons apiece.

Richard

Okay. So what's that? 800 total?

Ronnette

800 gallons. And we fill them up with a garden hose.

Richard

Okay. A little extra cushion. You only need it for like 600.

Ronnette

Yeah, 600. But it's always good.

Richard

Alright. So what else you got here? You got a steel pipe here that goes to the pump.

Ronnette

This pump is 1.5 horsepowers, okay? And this pump will give you 49 pounds of pressure to the furthest...

Richard

Which is what we need for that big... Alright. Then what's this manifold?

Ronnette

Okay. We first have the check valve. And then you have the flow switch, which is the most important item on every sprinkler system. This activates when any sprinkler head goes off.

Richard

Okay. To bring the pump on to...

Ronnette

And this is the low- pressure switch for the pump.

Good. Ronnette

Then you got the pump controller panel. And then everything here goes up to the system.

Richard

Alright. So this water will sit in this tank forever. The pump will provide pressure. Sitting right here so that this pipe will always be pressurized, no matter what,

up against the sprinkler heads. Ronnette

Exactly.

Richard

So, I can see right here you transition to some sort of plastic. Is that what you're going to use to run sprinklers through the building?

Ronnette

Yes, we're installing the system into CPVC, which is real important.

Richard

Can you show me that install?

Ronnette

Yes,

I can. Richard

Great. Guys, thanks. Alright. So, up here on the second floor, looks like you've made some progress. You've got a main trunk coming down here.

Ronnette

Yeah,

we do. Richard

That's the CPVC, right?

Ronnette

Yes, it is. And over here, we're bringing a head inside this room here.

Richard

Hey, Stefon. How are you?

Stefon

Hey. How you doing?

Richard

Alright. So, he's running the sprinkler head here. How many do you have in this room?

Ronnette

One.

Richard

And how do you determine it?

Ronnette

By the square footage of the room. And this is a 13D system. It's designed that way. This one here, the spray pattern covers 14 feet.

Richard

14 out,

14 wide. Ronnette

Yeah, 14 feet...

Richard

Cover this room perfectly. These are pretty interesting. There's a little sensor in there with a little bit of glycerin or alcohol, and that will release at certain temperature, right? There's different colors, right, different ratings?

Ronnette

For different areas, yeah. So, you'd have a green one here if you was in a high temperature like a laundry room, a boiler room.

Richard

Yeah. You don't want to trip it by mistake.

Ronnette

Yeah, trip by mistake. A lot of people think one sprinkler head goes off, they're all gonna go off.

Richard

That's 'cause all those TV shows always...

Ronnette

Exactly, exactly, exactly. But nine times out of ten, where the head goes off is where the fire's at. They say one sprinkler head protects 75% of your property.

Richard

Alright. So, how many of these are going to be on each floor.

About 10 to 12. Richard

Okay.

Ronnette

The whole purpose of this is to save your life, till you get out. So this system here economically makes sense. It will give you 20 minutes of water to get out.

Richard

Well, you're doing good work.

Yeah. Thank you. Richard

Thanks.

Kevin

Hey, guys!

Carol

Hello.

Hello. Kevin

Amy, good of you

to help us out. Amy

Of course.

Kevin

Carol, Will, you guys have done this before, right?

Carol

Yes, we've done this before. I had completed all the bathrooms and all the kitchens before the fire. Just before the fire.

Kevin

So, Amy, how do you get started? What's your sort of philosophy with helping them out?

Amy

We kind of -- We talked about what they had before, and now we're going to start with the walls, 'cause that's kind of the easiest. So that's what we started with.

Yep. Kevin

Okay. And, so, as you look at the wall, there's a wall by the bathtub, the narrow side, as well as the long side right here. And you're thinking tile all the way up that wall.

Yes. Kevin

And what do you say we maybe start from the first floor, work our way up? Willie, you're on the first floor. What are you thinking?

Willie

Yes,

I like these. Kevin

You like those? What do you like about them?

Willie

I like that they're large.

Laughter

Amy

Yeah, it's a large-format wall tile, and I think we're doing it in the stack pattern that kind of brings a little bit of that classic charm that you guys are looking for. And it's subway tile. You can't go wrong with it.

You can't go wrong. Amy

You just can't.

Kevin

Let's move our way up. Second floor? Have you got thoughts on that?

Carol

The same size tile. The white. And we're just going to do an accent to sort of break it up.

Kevin

And do it every couple feet or just one at a key spot? What do you think?

Carol

It's just one strip all the way around.

Yep. Carol

And then you have the white on the top and white on the bottom.

Just break it up. Carol

Just break it up.

Kevin

I like that. And then as we move up to the third floor, where are we thinking for the walls there?

Carol

Thinking the same tile for the wall but a different accent.

Amy

And it plays off of the metal finishes that we're doing for the shower head and the hand-held.

Kevin

Oh, nice. So, stainless. Picking that up, Little bit of a brushed finish. You know what? You've got decision makers on your hand. I don't know if you're aware of that yet.

Amy

They're very good.

Kevin

They have no patience for shopping. They just make decisions.

Laughter

All right. Amy

But it's been fun.

Kevin

Walls to floors, right? You're going to do tiles on the floors. Let's start from the top and work our way down. What are your thoughts on the floors?

Carol

We're doing the same tile on the third floor and the same one on the first floor.

Kevin

Wow. Okay. So repeating that. And what are you thinking?

Amy

Doing a little bit of a timeless. I love marble, so I had to sneak it in here somewhere.

Kevin

So that's a big marble right there.

12x12. Looks terrific. Amy

Yep.

Kevin

Okay. So that's first and third. And for the second floor, what are you guys thinking?

This is your tile here. Amy

Yep.

Kevin

So this is a porcelain. Right?

Mm-hmm. Kevin

That's nice. And that's got sort of the earth tones,

more of a natural stone feel. Carol

Right.

Kevin

And look at that. Even a colorblind guy like me can see that, right? So you get those beautiful earth-tone complements between floor and the accent piece....on the tiles. That's pretty cool. And that was your thought there?

Amy

Yeah, that we kind of wanted to -- Because Carol loved this, and so that was why we decided for this as an accent to kind of complement it. And we'll do this in a diamond format, as well.

Kevin

Nice. Okay. So, walls and floors, all three bathrooms. All picked out. You guys feel good about it?

Yes. Carol

Yes.

Kevin

Hopefully the last time you have to make these decisions.

Carol

Hopefully last time.

Kevin

It's nice working with a pro, isn't it?

Laughter

Kevin

It helps.

Willie

Yes,

it does. Amy

It does.

Kevin

Well, you guys get your act together. Good to hear. Thank you, Amy. We appreciate it.

Amy

Likewise.

Tom

Alright, guys, now, you're going to laugh at me when I say these are beautiful floors. And they were at one time. We're not going to use the radiators in this house. We're going to use hydronic heat. So we need to patch these holes in the floor. Now, to patch these old floors, you like to have old boards to match them. So, the boards that we got are from the second- or third-floor hallway. We're going to pull the nails and save these boards. Alright. So, now what we're going to do is we're going to turn the boards over and we're going to gently tap these nails out with the hammer and pull them on this end. We don't want to damage this side, so when we tap them with our hammer, we're going to tap it, take the board up, look at it, make sure that the nail isn't hooked on that finished edge. Swing your arc a little further. There you go. Drop the hammer. That's it. Bring it right down tight, right down flush. There you go. Alright. Now, like I was saying, the further you drive that down, there's more chance of you pulling that nail out... just like that. See? Alright. Let's get the rest of the nails out. Alright. So, now you think, well, let's just cut these boards out. Well, we have to think about how the boards were installed. It's a tongue-in-groove system. So the tongue on this board is facing that way, and the groove on this board is facing that way. So that tells me that when they installed this floor, they started on that side and they worked their way across. So, now, we also want to take this board out, but we want to stagger the joints. We don't want it to look like a patch. So, to do that, I'm just going to take my square and I'm going to place a line on the -- I'm going to set my square with the edge. I'm going to put a line here. I'm going to come over here, put another line. Line it up with the edge. See me lining up with the edge? I'm going to mark this here. Alright. And I'm going to draw another line here. So, I'm going to drill a hole.

Whirring

Tom

Just through the finished floor. Come up. Going to drill another hole beside that hole. Okay. Good. So now we got a bunch of holes. I'm just going to take my chisel, see if I can split that board. See how the board's starting to split there? Work my chisel. Just break that piece right out. Now, the idea of the holes down the middle, it actually makes room for me to take the center piece out. Split it again. Like cutting firewood, right? Now we're going to make this 16 and 1/8".

Buzzing

Tom

Alright. So, now we'll try this first board. Drop that in place just like that. And the second board's going to go in. But watch the problem that we have with this board when we try to put it in. We have to slide the tongue into the groove. We want to kick it over. It's over, but we can't get it down because the bottom part of this groove is hitting against the tongue. So what we need to do now is remove this all the way down, changing this dado into a rabbet. I'm going to slide this in. Alright. just tap it down. And I'll put a couple of nails in it.

Nail gun fires

Tom

Alright. So that's how we patch a floor. Once the sander comes in, the floor finisher, and gives a rough sanding, he'll then go over all of these imperfections -- nail holes, voids, anything that's small -- with a filler that will color-match the floor and then sand that in and put your top coat on.

Kevin

Among our favorite features in this house are the leaded glass accents. And, Cathryn, as our glass expert,

it's good to have you back. Cathryn

Nice to be back.

Kevin

You must be thrilled as we are to see them here. We've got three of these,

one in each dining room. Cathryn

Yeah.

Kevin

Beautiful. What can you tell us about them?

Cathryn

Well, they're typical for the era. This is an Egyptian kind of style.

Kevin

Egyptian? Really?

Cathryn

Yeah. Well, this is sort of a nod to the lotus flower. And it was popular at the turn of the last century, which is when this house was built.

Kevin

Right. So, stem, petals. With the bud right there?

Gotcha. Okay. Cathryn

Exactly right.

Kevin

And lead, right?

Cathryn

Yep. Leaded window.

Colored glass. Cathryn

Colored glass here. A rough-texture privacy glass there, but for good reason 'cause there's a house so close next door.

Kevin

It is literally about 8, 10 feet away, the neighbor's house right there.

Cathryn

You get all the light without the exposure.

Kevin

And the condition?

Cathryn

The condition is pretty darn good. These are well-built. There's a lot of lead. There's not a lot of big pieces of glass that can weigh down. It's just a good window.

I'm delighted it's here. Kevin

So are we. and I'm delighted we don't have to fix it, but we do have to fix something over here on the china cabinet. Also a typical feature for this house, this era?

Cathryn

It's a built-in. It's wonderful. It's a pride of place. This is where you put your china.

Kevin

Right. And, so, in this case, we don't need privacy glass.

We want to see that china. Cathryn

Yep.

Kevin

The condition here? What's your diagnosis?

Cathryn

The condition is poor. And probably your eye would go to this break first, as it should, but it's also --

Rattling

Cathryn

It's just been used so often, open and shut, that all the cement has fallen free.

Kevin

No doubt they had kids.

Kids. Kevin

Darn kids!

And they used it. Kevin

Alright. So this needs to be repaired. You have gotten ahead of us here.

Cathryn

I did a little.

Let's bring this guy in. Cathryn

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Kevin

What did you do for us here?

Cathryn

Well, I re-cemented it. I shored up the joints because some of them weren't so good. But the big key was the re-cementing.

Kevin

That's the sound we want to hear.

Cathryn

Yeah. That means it's solid.

No rattle. Cathryn

You can trust it. What I've got to do now is get this panel out safely. I want to identify the little finishing nails that are in here because this stuff can be so brittle after. Oh. See?

Kevin

Oh. Right on cue for "brittle," huh? You don't seem to be too concerned about that.

Cathryn

Well, I'm not happy I did it, but it's repairable and it won't be obvious and it doesn't affect

the strength of the window. Kevin

Okay.

Cathryn

Do it like so. And that's it.

Kevin

Get the frame out of our way.

Cathryn

Yeah. It's free, and now I'm able to work on it.

Kevin

Okay. So, what do you see? I mean, the lead is in decent shape?

Cathryn

The lead is in decent shape. It's all there. It's oxidized, but it hasn't fatigued, meaning it's all still there. When I scrape on this, just take off some of this oxidation... there's good lead underneath there. And because it's good, I can solder it, and that means I can save this window.

Kevin

Good.

Scraping

Kevin

Yeah. Nice score.

Cathryn

It's the right sound. And then... So, the next step is to cement it. It is calcium carbonate, linseed oil, and, like, a stove black. It takes a couple days to cure, but once it does, it's not going anywhere.

Kevin

Wow! So there's -- I don't know -- 30, 40 panes of glass.

Mm-hmm. Kevin

Two sides. We've got cement, cleaning, burnishing. You got a lot of work ahead of you. Couple hours at least.

Cathryn

I'm going to be here for a little bit, and I'm going to clean it up, really so it's pristine again.

Kevin

Cathryn, that's awesome. Thank you so much.

Cathryn

Thank you.

Kevin

Next time on "This Old House"...

Tom

We reinstall some of the cabinets that survived the fire.

Man

So, what we have is a combination heated and hot water boiler for each unit, so these will feed the domestic hot water and the heat to each unit throughout the building.

Kevin

So, Carol, you don't have a dishwasher in the kitchen now, right? That's kind of rare.

Carol

No, we don't have a dishwasher in the kitchen. It'll be a nice upgrade for me. But we have a small kitchen. I'm worried about size.