This Old House

Kevin: Today on "This Old House," over 300 years after our home was built, its living standards were updated and its history preserved.

It was carefully reconstructed and a new addition was built.

Three centuries later, the home has been restored and rejuvenated.

Man: Ahh.

That's it.

Kevin: Hi there.

I'm Kevin O'Connor, and welcome back to "This Old House."

A little over a year ago, we came to this quaint New England town which has more first-period homes than any other place in the country.

Our kind of town.

It also has the beautiful Ipswich River, which runs right out to the ocean.

As you will see, the homeowners, Charlie, and his subcontractors put in a tremendous amount of care to preserve the home's history and add a few modern conveniences.

And today is the day that it all comes together, because our home, well, it is complete.

Hey, gang's all here, huh?

What do you guys think of this transformation?

Richard: Unbelievable, really.

Jenn: Beautiful.

Kevin: Isn't it?

Tom: I think it's great.

And we really wanted to keep the house the way it was when we originally got here.

We didn't take the siding off.

We left the windows.

Those have been reconditioned.

New front door and sill, which is really nice.

Kevin: Mark did a little bit of stone work out here too, Jenn, because the house, I mean, it was basically below grade and it was getting clobbered with water.

Jenn: Right, so this is for esthetics but also for function, right, Tom?

Tom: Right.

You're right.

I mean, the function, you think about the side wall of the house and the sill are actually down about a foot below this grade here.

There was a trench, but what we did is we waterproofed all of the wood and then covered it with the granites.

Jenn: Right.

So this protects this area, but gives the illusion of the old foundation.

Kevin: Very nice.

So we've got three distinct buildings, right?

We've got the original gambrel and then we've got the new ell in the middle.

But, you know, this is all redone because, as our architect called it, the original ell, he said it was dreadful.

Man: I think the two-story addition that they put on it in the late 1800s is dreadful.

Kevin: [ Laughs ] Don't sugarcoat it.

Man: Sorry.

Kevin: What don't you like about it?

So it was too high.

Two stories.

You could see it from the front of the house.

Now it's back down to one story.

It sort of fits nicely between the front building and then the new back building, which is all new space, sort of a barn structure there.

Tom: Right, and they also brought this wall of the ell out about 10 feet, which gave more floor space inside.

Jenn: Right.

And also adding to the front, we have this beautiful, dry-laid retaining wall and it's also a sitting wall for the front entryway.

And then we have the reclaimed granite slab that just marks the beautiful new entry.

Richard: Terrific.

It all looks so great.

Jenn: Well, we have this reclaimed brick walkway as well, and then a barrier of native plants to give a little break between the road and the house.

Tom: Beautiful.

And the boathouse looks great.

That was pre-cut off site in a shop and then brought on site.

In about two days, assembled.

Kevin: Pretty cool.

Richard: So the building is actually downhill.

We needed to send mechanicals to it, so we buried water and also pumped drainage up into that main house.

Kevin: And speaking of the main house, I mean, how good does it look from this side?

Richard: Unbelievable.

Kevin: Look at that thing.

So we've got that barn structure on this side.

So the primary suite up top and this little sunroom down low.

And then we've got the ell, which looks great on this side, and the original gambrel too.

Jenn: And remember the deck used to run the whole length of the house and now it's just shortened to a covered deck down onto this beautiful reclaimed brick patio, and to me is the best spot in this whole place.

And look at the magical view you get.

Richard: Great.

Tom: Yeah.

Kevin: This is exciting seeing the inside for the first time, inside of the new addition out back.

This is sort of an entryway here.

So you've got stairs down to the new basement and then stairs up to the primary suite.

And off of that, we've got a little hallway in here where they have tucked in a laundry and a bathroom and all through this hallway from the entryway down here to this little room, we've got thin brick.

So that's real brick shaved thin, put down individually -- a beautiful look in what is shaping up to be maybe my favorite room.

Cozy little room off of the side here, the sunroom.

But it's got this wall of windows looking out onto the river, connection to the garage and connection to the covered porch out here.

So we've got garapa wood.

This is a South American hardwood for the top rail, a modern cable system.

And then we've got more garapa down here on the deck, some stainless steel screws.

Just a couple more things on your list, Heath, for a pretty challenging project for the electrician.

Heath: A very challenging project.

So we're just finishing up the light fixtures.

This is made locally at the same place that made the dining room light.

Kevin: I saw the factory.

They do great work.

Heath: And everything ties in really well together, so it works well.

And then we got to the ell.

[ Laughter ] Kevin: It really turned out well, though.

Heath: I think it worked out really well.

I mean, the trick was trying to light that without having the old-school track lights that you see just shining spots everywhere or recess coming through all the timbers and casting shadows.

We wanted to show its natural beauty and keep it beautiful.

Kevin: Well, you're helping us celebrate that room.

So nice job on everything.

Heath: Thanks.

Kevin: Alright.

Tom: I'm here in the front foyer of the gambrel, and we did a little work in here, but not much.

The riser height was different.

We straightened that out, and now the stairway is nice and smooth and it looks great.

Hey, Bill.

Bill: Hey, Tommy.

Tom: Boy, this bedroom looks great, doesn't it?

Bill: Oh, we're so happy with it.

Tom: I love it myself.

I love the old post and beam and everything else.

Bill: Can't you just feel the history of this house?

Tom: I can, and it's just wonderful.

Bill: And to think that 300 years ago someone hand-hewn this purlin.

Tom: Right.

And that's basically a tree, alright?

They took the tree up.

They they hand-hewn it, what they had to do, mortise and tenon, and they made a flat spot on top for the boards to nail to as they traveled down the roof.

Bill: Mm-hmm.

Well, let's go take a look at this feature, which we're particularly proud of.

This was my wife's idea.

Tom: It's a great idea.

I mean, this basically is a window stool that is really wide because it goes right into the window.

I love the fact that old boards were used.

Bill: Absolutely.

Tom: Oh, boy, Bill.

Here we are on the front room under the bedroom that we were just at on the second floor.

And this looks beautiful, doesn't it?

Bill: I know.

We love our living room.

And like upstairs, we decided to open up the ceilings.

And to our delight, we found on this wall plate and that wall plate, the beading, which we learned from you, Tommy, means that this was intended to be exposed.

Tom: Right.

It's basically a decorative point, and it picks off of this little beaded detail in all the gunstock posts.

And they just transferred it here.

It looks absolutely beautiful.

Hey, Mauro.

It looks great.

Mauro: It looks beautiful.

The color looks fantastic.

So you guys know we had a designer and a color consultant to work with the homeowners to choose the best historical colors for this -- this part of the house.

Tom: Yeah.

Mauro: An amazing job.

You can see here that we have the slight darker for all the millwork and trim in this room.

And the plaster wall is slight lighter, like a lighter color, like an old house should be.

Tom: Yeah.

The earth tones are really sweet.

And I love the texture and the sheen that was chosen.

And I also like the texture on the wall.

Mauro: They did a great job picking the color.

It looks nice.

Tom: And you did a great job putting it on good.

Mauro: Well, good.

Someone has to paint.

Tom: Let's take a look over here.

Bill: Okay.

So, Tommy, this is my favorite room.

This is the den and my future office.

Hey, Mark.

Mark: Hey, Bill.

Hey, Tom.

Tom: Well, I can see why it's your favorite room.

Lookit.

Mark's got a roaring fire going here.

Mark, you rebuilt this fireplace.

Now, this is a Rumford, correct?

Mark: So this is a Rumford.

Now, we started with the superstructure, which was the chimney.

Tom: Mm-hmm.

Mark: That came with the conventional Ben Franklin fireplace that we saw, and then we turned it into a Rumford.

Tom: Great job, Mark.

Lot of beaded detail on the vertical walls, hidden doors or closets on each side for some storage and a beautiful mantel and a place for you to sit and relax.

Bill: Yeah, and I love how he carried the beading over from other parts of the house into this room.

Tom: Yeah, it looks great.

So I think you're really going to enjoy this space.

Bill: I can see myself sitting in this wing chair and sitting in front of the fire many nights from now.

Tom: I agree.

Mark: That's what it's supposed to do, yeah.

Tom: Yeah.

Mark: Great.

Tom: Alright, let's take a look at the pantry.

Bill: Let's go.

Mark: See you guys.

Tom: Alright, Mark.

Thanks.

Mark: Yep.

Tom: This space here really turned out nice too, Bill.

It all came together with a lot of repurposed wood.

Bill: Well, and that's exactly right.

I mean, this wood used to be in the subfloor of the original ell.

Tom: Right.

And this covers up the old window that was here.

Bill: There was an old window there, right?

And this came from the floorboards from the second-floor bedroom.

Tom: Yeah, I remember those.

Yeah.

Bill: And then we found these red planks up in the attic and we were determined to use them somehow.

And Kevin, the carpenter, did a great job in making them into cabinets.

Tom: He did a great job.

And I love the way that you left the detail of the texture right here.

It really looks good.

Bill: Yeah.

Tom: Great space.

Bill: Yeah, we're very pleased.

Kevin: This is all new space up here with sort of a back staircase and a couple of different rooms in here, including, hey, Helen, our homeowner and your office, huh?

Helen: Good morning.

Yes.

Kevin: What do you think about this space?

Helen: I just love it in here.

I love the light.

I love the space in here.

It's quiet.

It's great.

Kevin: I love the light.

I love the fact that it's tucked up underneath the roofline.

That sort of makes it cozy.

Helen: Absolutely.

Kevin: The core looks terrific, and so do the finishes.

So you guys were adamant you wanted pine floors, random widths.

Helen: Yeah.

Kevin: Not tongue and groove.

Helen: Straight cut.

Kevin: These are butt joints.

And then you've even got the old cut nails that were replicated.

Helen: Mm-hmm.

I think it looks great.

Kevin: Okay.

Helen: Here's our beautiful primary bathroom.

Kevin: Wow, this is beautiful.

Look at this.

Helen: With this just beautiful floating vanity.

Kevin: And I remember a discussion many months ago when this was sort of being laid out.

We were just in rough framing, and you guys were worried that the shower enclosure was sort of too bulky.

This wall came up a little higher.

It came to the edge right here.

And a little change order clipped the edge.

You wanted to kind of create a view through the space, but not really see the toilet.

Helen: Not to close off the room so much.

Kevin: Do you like it?

Did it work?

Helen: Unbelievable.

Kevin: Yeah, it really is.

Helen: It's beautiful.

Kevin: It is amazing.

This is a beautiful room.

Okay, well, lead on.

Helen: Alright.

So here's our beautiful bedroom... Kevin: Nice space here.

Helen: ...overlooking the Ipswich River.

Just an incredible view.

Kevin: That's what this room is all about, right?

The view?

Helen: This room is about the view.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

We just love it.

Just trying to keep it focused on the outside as much as we can.

Kevin: The landscape, which is still a work in progress, but I'm going to go check that out 'cause Jenn is hard at work.

But I will tell you, Helen, I love to see that smile on your face.

Helen: Well, we're thrilled.

Kevin: Terrific.

Hey, Jenn.

Jenn: Hey, Kevin.

Kevin: Well, this is really coming along.

Jenn: Yeah.

A lot of work has been done and a lot of work has been done underground that you can't even see.

Kevin: Okay.

Jenn: So on this site, we had to have a water mitigation plan, meaning like we had to not let the water sheet off into this river because we are in the wetland buffer zone.

Kevin: Gotcha.

Okay.

Jenn: It's very important to mitigate it, so we have gutters on the roof capturing water, sending it to a cistern underground.

Two different cisterns.

Kevin: Big project there.

Those tanks -- Jenn: Yeah, they were craned in.

It was perfect.

And then we had this gravel driveway.

It's a permeable driveway.

So when the water comes rushing down in a big storm, it's going to recharge into the ground.

Kevin: Not something that would happen if it were asphalt.

Jenn: Right.

If it was asphalt, it'd just sheet right off and just ripped right down.

Kevin: I like that.

Jenn: And as a third plan of action, we have grass.

So when -- whatever is not caught here is going to be caught by the grass, it's going to slow down and then sink into the earth.

Kevin: So hydroseeded just about an hour ago.

This comes up quickly this spring, and then we've got a whole nother filtration system.

Jenn: Exactly.

Kevin: I love it.

Jenn: Triple barrier.

You got to protect these wetlands.

Kevin: Right.

Jenn: This summer Charlie and Helen were down here clearing out all the invasives, especially the Japanese knotweeds.

Kevin: It's nasty stuff.

Jenn: Yeah.

I mean, it takes a long time for it to go away.

So what you have to do is cover it with plastic after you excavate it as much as possible and suffocate it for two years.

Kevin: Wow.

Two years to get rid of it?

Jenn: Two years.

This whole area was a bunch of invasives in here.

But eventually the plan is to do a native wildflower meadow, mow once a year, let the birds come and feast.

Kevin: Be a great spot for it, for sure.

Jenn: Yeah, absolutely.

Kevin: Well, it's comfortable inside, Richard.

So you've done your job.

Richard: Thank you very much.

This is actually the heart of our heating system.

Heating and cooling system.

These are condensers.

They look like just like any other condenser, but they are cold weather, inverter heat pumps.

Kevin: Alright, but they look like air conditioning units.

Richard: Absolutely.

They are principally the same, but they go a step farther.

As a cold weather inverter heat pump, it means that the compressor is very precise to find the right amount of refrigerant to put in the fan changes.

And what that means is even if it's a zero degree day outside or even a -10 degree day or -20, you still can find heat outside and deliver it through refrigerant piping inside the building.

Conventional placement of these condensers would have been that we would have, since we have an air handler at that end of the building, we would have the condenser right there.

And the limit always was for the refrigerant piping to be about 50 feet between indoor and outdoor.

So these modern units, we can run the line sets a little bit longer and hide them right here.

But we have to be cautious when we do that that we don't constrict the airflow that has to come in here.

So you don't want to have a privacy fence so close.

You want free air to be able to come in to make them run efficient.

Let me show you inside.

Kevin: Oh, tight little spot back here.

Richard: Yeah, so this is one of our mechanical systems right here.

You can see it's a mini duct system.

It has a blower unit right here that sends air out to the duct.

But here's our refrigerant line sets that connect to our outside cold weather inverter heat pumps.

Comes to right here.

There's a coil, and the air blows across it and either gets heated or cooled.

And then this will just modulate all the time.

Now, that's the air delivery.

We also want to condition the air.

So any good comfort system like this has got an air filter like this right here.

The other is fresh air makeup into the building.

And you can see that we have fresh air from an energy recovery ventilator.

It's got humidification.

You can see there's a wand that puts the steam right into here, and that'll just put a precise little piece of steam into that return area as necessary.

So in the last piece, this is a hot water heating coil with these two lines.

Let me show you where they connect.

So those two lines will be filled with water and they're going to come back to this area right here.

This is our hot water center.

This is actually a combination gas-fired condensing boiler.

The boiler's at the top.

We have a hot water tank down here for the faucets.

We put it in for the hot water, but it also gives us the ability to power up our radiant floor heating system that we have in the garage, down here in the basement, and all the bathrooms.

Kevin: So the heat pump and the refrigerant, that's primary source of heat.

The water is now just back up?

Richard: Just in case.

And it's really nice because we have this as a sort of a backup.

Kevin: Very elegant.

System that you can't hear or see.

I like that.

Richard: As is the way it should be.

Kevin: Charlie.

Charlie: Kevin.

Kevin: Holy mackerel.

The main event.

Charlie: What do you think?

Kevin: I think you pulled it off.

This thing is awesome.

I mean, exactly what the homeowners wanted.

Charlie: I mean, I'm stunned by it every time I come into the room still.

Kevin: It looks like it has always been here.

But of course, the entire thing is really an illusion.

Charlie: Right.

Once we did all the boards, did all the rafters, all our rafters came up and then we took some reclaimed wood that we had and made our own beam and put it around the steel beam.

And I think it came out really nice.

Kevin: It came out really, really nice.

Well, there are smiles everywhere.

People are excited to see it.

They're going to come in and it's going to blow their minds.

[ Door opens ] The first one's right here.

Hey, Bill.

Bill: Hey.

How's it going?

Kevin: Alright.

Hey, Helen.

Helen: Hi.

Kevin: So how does it feel to be home?

Helen: Oh, my gosh.

It is just beautiful.

Bill: Wow.

You know, this is the way all our guests will be coming in, and the first thing they see is this beautiful river in front of us.

Kevin: And you got your timber frame on display.

Helen: Sure did.

And you know, it's wonderful, Charlie, that you were able to save this 1870s attic.

Kevin: Good job indeed.

Well, there's lots to see, so let's have a look around.

Helen: Sure.

Kevin: We'll start, I guess, with what do you guys call this space?

Helen: This is our entry/reading area.

Kevin: Reading.

Okay.

Helen: But the idea is, you know, you can come in and take off your boots and stuff, and it also happens to be built out of some of the wood that we pulled up from the old second floor of the ell.

Kevin: Honestly, that's got to feel good when you sit on the board you pulled up from your own attic.

Bill: I know.

And we love it because this is the sunniest part of the house.

We get the morning sun.

It's a great place to read your newspaper in the morning, have your cup of coffee.

Kevin: Very nice.

If you want something more comfortable, however, you did give yourself a spot to sit over here.

Bill: Absolutely.

This is going to be our sitting area.

Even though we have a lovely living room, this is really where we're going to spend all of our time.

This was the original wall right here.

Kevin: Yep.

Bill: And this was the '60s kitchen that was done very poorly.

Kevin: So sitting areas, but also dining areas if we chuck back to the corner over here.

Helen: So this is our dining nook, right?

We really wanted to have a dining area, you know, that was a little more casual.

We've got these beautiful light fixtures, you know, that we saw being made.

Kevin: Made by hand nearby.

Helen: Made by hand.

Kevin: A really nice feature.

Helen: This was the exterior wall of the gambrel.

Kevin: So I've got to admit, this is a bold design decision to leave these boards exposed.

They are rough.

You're going to get splinters walking by.

And there they are.

You said, "Yes, we want them."

Bill: And look at the size of these boards.

You know, they just don't make boards like this anymore.

We had to keep it.

Kevin: You did have to.

Charlie: One of our decisions we actually had to struggle with is where do you start the boards?

They start on the side, but where do they end, right?

Kevin: Yeah.

Charlie: We had the plaster line above, and look at this.

This is one of the -- this is the third bent of the gambrel, the rafter coming right through the whole thing.

Kevin: 1720 right there.

Charlie: Right there.

Kevin: Yeah.

And it does a nice job of tying it back to the kitchen, which is, let's admit it, it's the main event in here.

Helen: Oh, it is beautiful.

You know, it was a challenge to put a really modern, functional kitchen in this old space and not ruin, you know, this old restored space.

Kevin: Well, it works.

But there were a lot of challenges in this space.

Bill: Well, there were just picking the right lighting, getting it to the right height, attaching it to the ceiling.

All of that was not easy.

Kevin: And you took it to another level when the soapstone was turned into a sink, custom fabrication.

Bill: I love the double sink.

Kevin: And we see things like hand-blown glass and not the modern amenities with microwaves tucked away or refrigerators, you know, behind panels so it's not all stainless steel.

Helen: Right.

Kevin: Well, in the hands of professionals, it seems like there is a solution for every problem.

And a lot of professionals are here coming in right now for the party, so I guess, Bill and Helen, I just say on behalf of all of us, we want to congratulate you on your new house.

It was a pleasure working with you and we really admire your spirit to preserve the old building.

Bill: Thanks, Kevin.

And when we launched this project over a year ago, we set two goals.

One was to restore this house to its original beauty, and the second was to create a functional and beautiful living space.

Kevin: And you did that for sure.

Bill: And with the help of our architect, Ben Nutter, with the help of Charlie and his talented construction crew, and with the interior design skills of my wife, I can confidently say we achieved both goals.

Richard: You did.

Kevin: You did.

You definitely did.

Helen: Yeah.

It's just, we just love it.

And we are just so grateful to you all.

Charlie: It's a very rare time you find two people so passionate about doing the right thing to an old home and really taking the time and effort to do it.

I can't thank you enough.

Helen: Thank you.

Tom: With all of the work that was done here by some fantastic people to make this all happen, I got thinking about it the other day.

I said I should make them a little something from something so they would have.

So I decided to... ooh, I saw an old beam down back, and I decided to build you a wooden box or a cookie jar.

And you can break some bread, talk about the story that you've gone through.

Bill: That is... Helen: Oh, thank you so much.

This is just lovely.

Bill: So we don't forget you, right?

Tom: That's right.

Helen: This is so great.

I love it.

Kevin: A Silva original.

Well, Bill and Helen, welcome home.

Thank you to everybody on the team for a job well done.

And rest assured, we've got more old houses to come, so we will be back.

But for right now, it is a wrap, and that is it from all of us here in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and "This Old House."

Alright, folks, time for a party!

[ Cheers and applause ] Well done.

Good job, Bill.

Very well done.

Helen, good job.

Congrats.

Nice job.