This Old House

Vince: Tell me what's coming up today on "This Old House."

Tom: Well, you, Mr. Vince Gill, are going to give me a tour of Nashville.

You know anything about this place?

Vince: I know there's six old hickories and you don't speed in Belle Meade.

That's all I've ever learned.

Tom: What does that mean?

Vince: I'll tell you later.

Richard: Here in Music City, U.S.A., is this drain line pitch-perfect?

We'll find out.

Man: Ahh.

That's it.

Kevin: Hey, there.

I'm Kevin O'Connor.

And welcome back to "This Old House" in East Nashville, Tennessee, where we are working for a young family of four on their 1929 cottage.

This is the second floor, and if you recall, up here, well, it was pretty much just an attic space used for storage.

And now, well, mostly living space.

So, installation is in, board is up.

And if you take a little tour of the living space, we've got a primary suite back here.

Big bedroom, lots of light.

We've got a primary bath in here.

Now, the way we got all this extra space was by putting a dormer off the back of the house.

That gave us all of this room, room for two bedrooms right here for the two kids, a big, open landing space here that can be play space, and a washer and dryer tucked into there, and a brand-new staircase down to our first floor.

The first floor has been majorly reconfigured.

There used to be a full bath right here with a bedroom for the kids behind this wall.

Now we have got a half bath on the other side of this wall, and this space has all been opened up.

So, dining room here, kitchen along this side.

Pops, how are you?

Tom: Good.

How are you doing?

Kevin: I'm doing alright.

What are you working on?

Tom: I'm actually working on recycling these old cedar posts that were holding the house up in the basement.

Kevin: Ooh!

I'm intrigued.

I'll have to check back on that later.

Tom: Alright.

Kevin: Javi, how are you?

Lyn, nice to see you.

Lyn: Hey, Kevin.

How are you?

Kevin: Alright.

Ooh!

It came back, huh?

Lyn: It did.

The original telephone shelf.

The owners wanted to reuse it, so we've installed it here, and we'll have the doorbell down here and a phone-charging station here.

Kevin: Very clever.

Nice touch.

I love it.

Javier: Thank you.

Kevin: Alright.

So, as you come to the front of the house, this is the front living room, completely unchanged.

And what was the dining room is now going to become the music room, and what was a bedroom over there is now going to become the office.

The front of the house and the facade -- no change at all, but big changes off of the back because of that dormer.

So, the dormer pops up, but also gives us this little ceiling right here for a porch that runs left and right of the entire house.

Let's just sit out here and look over a beautiful backyard, and beneath us, a new basement with mechanical space, finished space, and a plumber.

Hey, Richard.

Richard: Hey, Kevin.

How are you?

Kevin: Alright.

Richard: So, this basement got higher, which gave us great advantage to run mechanical ductwork.

Remember how low this building was?

Now it's gone way up here.

Now, our condenser is already connected outside, right here.

We have our lines going up to our second floor.

This goes to a condenser right here.

These terminated lines go to the unit in the primary bedroom.

So, one thing this building never had was a basement bathroom, and now it has a lavatory and a toilet right here, and that means that the drain lines run lower.

It used to be that the drains would come to here, and they exited the building at a point right about here and the grade came to here.

And then we looked at the new drain, which is down what?

About 3 feet lower.

And we said, "Well, wait a minute.

We don't know where the sewer is out here.

What if we don't have enough pitch to be able to get that water into the drain by gravity?"

We really didn't want a pump.

So, this was a week of exploration and excavation.

So, Greg Slade is our plumber on this job.

How are you, my friend?

Greg: Hey, Richard.

How are you?

Richard: You've been busy out here.

So, you dug it out to here.

Greg: Yeah, we were digging and digging to see if, at some point, that pipe would fall deep enough to tie the newer, deeper sewer in, and it really wasn't.

So it was still high, it was still high.

Richard: Right, right.

Greg: And we got all the way out here and we were still too high to tie into.

Luckily, we went in just a little further and found that it dove down, and we were able to cut that off and give ourselves a nice low target that I think is going to work well for the new sewer to have the proper pitch.

Richard: Thank goodness for that.

So, how far are we from the house?

Greg: It's about 73 feet, which, at an 1/8 inch per foot, means we got to fall at least 9 inches, at a minimum, from level.

Richard: Okay.

So, this level line will tell us a lot.

So, if we start at the level point, this represents the bottom of the pipe.

Greg: Yeah.

Richard: And we have to go down by what?

9?

Greg: Yeah, at least 9.

Richard: So, let's call that 9.

So, that's great.

So we can get to this point, and then you can make the adapter to get to there.

That's great.

And this level line will also help establish what we need to do to scrape out the bottom of the trench.

Greg: Yeah, it looks like the trench is done well, where it's not over-dug, and we just got a little hand scraping to get us to the level we need.

Richard: And we don't want any extra undisturbed stuff, dirt underneath the pipe, right?

Greg: That's correct, so I wouldn't want it any more dug than this.

Richard: So we're gonna start from that end and work back, right?

Greg: Yep.

Richard: And the first fitting is an increaser, in this case, to go from 3-inch to the 4-inch.

He's using a purple primer and a PVC cement.

Greg: The "T" is the next thing we're gonna put on the end of this.

Richard: Alright, we're putting primer and going to glue this clean-out fitting.

The clean-out fitting is going to be exactly underneath the stair landing for future service, but out of sight.

Greg: Give that a little twist and shove it on, we'll be good.

Richard: In we go, spin.

There it is.

Greg: Like that.

Richard: Okay.

Greg: Lovely.

Richard: 64 more feet.

[ Chuckles ] Greg: Love it.

Richard: Alright.

Perfect.

Perfect pitch.

Greg: Alright.

Richard: Thank you, my friend.

Greg: Good job.

Richard: It looks great.

Let's backfill a little bit.

Adam: Hey, Tommy.

How are you?

Tom: Hey, Adam.

I'm good.

How are you doing?

Adam: Look at that.

Tom: What do you think?

Adam: I can't believe that was hiding in that old log.

Tom: Yeah, these cedar logs have some nice wood in them, that's for sure.

Adam: That is beautiful.

Tom: And I'm really happy that you wanted to reclaim them and repurpose them.

This is going to go in your kitchen island.

There's two of them.

And you wanted them on each corner of the outside part of the island.

Adam: That's right.

Tom: And it's tapered on four sides.

Adam: Awesome.

Tom: Ever done anything like this?

Adam: I could use a refresher.

Tom: Alright.

That's always good.

So, what we've done is, I've already made one.

I've cut a log in half and I've set this one up and I've done one side of it real quick.

So we're ready to basically true this one up to make it look like this one.

Adam: Let's do it.

Tom: Alright, what I did is, I attached a board to the side of the log and I put shims in it to give us a straight edge.

So we want to run it through the saw as if it was like a sawmill cutting off a log.

We shave the edge of it.

So now I'm going to take and measure the dimensions that I have.

Right here, that's about 6 1/8, but I want to take some off here, so I'm going to make it about 5 1/2.

That will shave this off right here.

Okay.

I'll set my rip fence at 5 1/2.

The blade on the table saw doesn't come up high enough to cut into this log, along with the filler that I have here.

If we were to do this in a shop or something, you'd do it on a big bandsaw, but we're on the job site, so we got to make do with what we have.

But first, we'll cut a nice straight groove into our log.

With the reciprocating saw, I'll follow the groove to remove the remaining material.

Now, to true up the cut, I'll hit it with my electric hand planer.

Alright.

Let's see what we have here.

Now, we've got our two square edges that are pretty square right here.

So we're going to use this edge and this edge to run against our rip fence to true up this side.

We're still limited by our table saw, so I will make the cut, flip the piece over, and finish the face with another pass.

I'll repeat the process to get our fourth side.

Alright, to cut the taper, I took a scrap piece of siding and I cut a taper on it right here for the leg to sit in so all of the tapers will match.

So, all I did is set the rip fence where it goes.

I'll take the leg and hold it tight inside the tapering jig, like this.

And when I push it, the taper will be cut.

Alright, so, that's one of eight cuts that we have to make.

So, now I can rotate it once, hold tight into the jig and send it through again.

Now, that's one half of each side.

So one side is tapered, one side is not.

So what we have to do is do the same thing on each leg, but cut the other half of each cut.

And to do that, I have to put my jig in, in reverse.

Before, the end to push was up there.

Now I'm going to push against the jig here, sending the leg through the opposite direction.

Alright, so, let me show you what we did.

We've cut the board using our guide and cut off two sides.

Now, if I turn the leg, we now have a gap.

Now it will stay in the position when we push it through.

Alright, we're ready to start sanding.

We'll start with 80-grit and work our way up.

Nice job.

Well, there you go.

You have a couple of cedar legs for the end of your island.

What do you think?

Adam: These are awesome.

Tom: Yeah, beautiful.

Adam: It's beautiful.

Tell you what, I can finish these up here and clean up.

I know you've got someplace to be.

Tom: I do.

I just have to go visit a friend of mine, who just happens to be a country-western singer.

Adam: Awesome.

Tom: Alright, Adam, good luck.

Adam: Thanks again.

Kevin: Hey, guys.

Rachel: Hi.

Kevin: Hey, Adam, Rachel.

How are you?

Rachel: Great.

I see you've met our designer, Debra.

Kevin: Your designer and your neighbor.

I didn't realize she was right here in the neighborhood, Debra: Right across the street.

Kevin: This means she's got a vested interest in what you choose, because she's going to be looking at it.

Debra: For sure.

Rachel: Yep.

That's right.

Kevin: So, where did you steer them?

Debra: Rachel and Adam have an awesome design sense.

So they came to the table with a lot of great ideas anyway.

They wanted a gray, but they were going really, really dark on the gray.

So we thought, since you've got the boldness of the red brick, you've got black windows, black roof, let's do something a little lighter so there's some contrast.

Kevin: So, just so that I understand, the body is the more stripes, and then the single stripe up top -- that represents a trim?

Debra: That's right.

Kevin: So seeing what's up here, do you guys have some thoughts?

Maybe we start on the left, the lighter version here.

Rachel: Yeah.

Kevin: What do you think?

Rachel: You know, I like it.

I think it's a really nice color.

Originally, one of my favorites, but... Adam: I wonder if it matches the foundation just a little bit too much.

Rachel: I think so.

Kevin: It is a close match to the concrete foundation.

So maybe we move on to the next one.

You get more pigment in that one, a little darker.

Rachel: Yep.

Kevin: Thoughts on that one?

Rachel: I think it's great.

I think it's really nice.

Really nice color.

A bit more contrast here, but still different from the windows and the roof.

I think it's a great color.

Kevin: We like "great."

Adam?

Adam: I like it.

Kevin: Well, before you fall in love, we do have a darker one.

It's up already, so let's at least consider it.

Your thoughts?

Rachel: Yeah.

You know, originally, we were thinking even darker than this, but now that we see this up, I think, with the dark windows and the dark roof now, yeah, I think it'll be too much.

So I think we really are leaning to this one.

Kevin: I like that.

You approve?

Debra: Absolutely.

And if we take a lighter trim and even a medium trim with this one, your black windows and your black roof are really going to pop, so the lines of the house are really gonna punch.

Kevin: I love it.

Alright, so, we got a -- Deb, if I could switch spots with you.

You guys have got to think about a front door.

So, three swatches in the blue category here.

Rachel: Yes.

Kevin: Let's start, I guess, maybe, with number one.

If those are your body and trim colors, how do you feel about that for a front door?

Rachel: I think it's just too bright.

Kevin: Bright is out.

What about this one?

Rachel: It's a nice color.

It's a nice blue.

Not offensive at all.

But I still don't -- I think -- Kevin: "Not offensive" is not what we're going for.

Debra: Okay.

Yep.

Kevin: So, a little darker versus the medium tone.

Rachel: See, I think I like this just that much -- a little bit better than that one.

I think it's great.

Kevin: Adam?

Adam: They all kind of look the same to me.

Kevin: Typical guy.

Adam: I defer to the pros, yeah.

Kevin: Deferring to the boss?

Rachel: Yeah.

Kevin: So, would you be comfortable living with that?

Rachel: Yeah, I think it's great.

Kevin: That's what we want.

Rachel: Yeah, it's beautiful.

Kevin: We like the decision.

Thank you.

Debra, appreciate it.

We're glad you're in the neighborhood to help.

Debra: Thank you.

Rachel: Thank you.

Tom: He's won more Grammys than any other male country-music artist ever, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and, oh, yeah, he has a reputation for being one of the nicest guys in Nashville.

Vince Gill, country-music legend, famous for his world-class guitar playing and soulful songwriting, has volunteered to give me a tour of his favorite spots in town, starting with one of the most iconic stages in music.

Vince: Hey, buddy.

Tom: Hey, Vince, Vince: Welcome back.

Tom: Good to see you again.

Vince: Good to see you.

Welcome to the Ryman.

Tom: I've never been here.

Vince: You've never been?

Well, this building is synonymous with Nashville.

You know, most people, when they think of Nashville, they think of music and they think of the Ryman.

Tom: Oh, look at this.

Vince: There you go.

Tom: Wow!

Vince: This is it right here.

Tom: I love it.

This is where it all happened.

Vince: This is it.

Come on.

We'll have a seat, tell you a little bit about the Ryman.

Tom: Alright.

I was at the Grand Ole Opry a couple of times.

I met you backstage.

You were gracious enough to talk to me, but this is like a miniature.

Vince: Yeah.

You know, a lot of people don't realize this was built as a tabernacle when it was first built.

It wasn't built to have the Grand Ole Opry here.

The Grand Ole Opry wound up here in 1943, and then moved out to the Opry House in 1974.

And so this was the home of the Opry for almost 30 years, 31 years.

Tom: So that explains why all the seating is pews.

Vince: Yeah, church pews.

And they're very uncomfortable.

[ Both laugh ] I've been to a million shows here myself, and my favorite seats are sitting in the center here in the balcony.

I'd rather sit in the balcony than down on the floor, 'cause the stage is raised.

And it's just -- It's magnificent here.

It's my favorite place to play.

Tom: I read that you've played here more than anybody else.

Vince: I don't know about that, but Amy and I have been doing Christmas shows in Nashville for over 30 years.

It's how we met.

And we do a dozen Christmas shows every year.

So, I think we just finished over our 100th show here.

Tom: Congratulations.

Vince: Yeah.

It's magical.

Tom: Why is this place so special to you?

Vince: I think because the building was originally intended to save souls.

Tom: Yeah.

Vince: So that's pretty simple.

Tom: Right, right.

Vince: Its intention was beautiful.

So, to me, this is my church.

This is where I feel like -- feel like home.

Tom: Yeah.

It makes perfect sense.

Well, I hope to see a show here someday, but in the meantime, I get -- You have a pretty busy day for us.

Vince: Yeah, we're going to go have some fun.

We're going to go get a cheeseburger at Brown's Diner.

It's legendary.

Tom: All right, well, I'm hungry, so let's go.

Vince: Alright, come on.

I'm buying.

Tom: Vince, when did you start actually playing music?

I mean, at a young age?

Vince: Man, I don't remember a time when I didn't.

My mom has a picture of me when I was about a year and a half, 2 years old, and I'm asleep on a couch, facedown, and I've got my arm around a little guitar.

So I think I was always meant to play.

And This is our crazy Broadway.

Tom: This is a crazy street.

Vince: Yeah, there's a bar every 6, 8 feet.

This is the arena where the hockey team plays and a lot of concerts, Bridgestone Arena, and I got to be a part of picking the design.

Tom: Oh, that's an honor.

Vince: It was really fun.

The one we picked was the only one that faced the Ryman.

That was -- To me, it was a little bit of an homage to the old part of Nashville.

And this is the circular drive that's really the few streets that are Music Row, you know?

Owen Bradley.

This is Owen Bradley Park.

That's him at the piano.

Tom: Yeah.

Vince: One of the first really great producers in Nashville that produced Patsy Cline and countless others.

And him and Chet Atkins were the two mainstays, producers that kind of helped put us on the map, musically.

Tom: Chet Atkins.

Vince: Yeah.

He was such a sweet friend of mine.

Let's go inside.

You got to see the old place.

Tom: Okay.

I want to.

Vince: It's really great.

Tom: I love these old diners.

Vince: This is the original.

There's all there was is just this.

Tom: This part right here?

Vince: Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Tom: Little, wasn't it?

Vince: It was.

Tom: So, why is this place so famous?

Vince: I think 'cause it's normal.

Tom: Yeah.

Vince: You know, I think the best places usually are.

This place is friendly.

I got a new song on my next record I'm going to put out.

It's called Brown's Diner Bar.

Tom: Maybe I can get a little... Vince: Yeah, it's sweet.

It's...

It starts off saying, "Brown's Diner Bar.

It's my favorite in town.

Back when I drank beer, I poured quite a few down."

Tom: [ Laughs ] Vince: "The burgers are greasy, they still taste the same.

Almost 100 years old, and not much has changed.

So many memories in those 40-some years.

But the one that sticks with me still brings me to tears.

The night John Prine was singing on the jukebox.

And Mama danced with Hal Ketchum in the parking lot."

That's who's waiting on us is Mama.

Tom: Oh, wow.

It means a lot to you.

Vince: Yeah, it does.

Music is -- It's everything to me.

It's my language.

Tom: Yeah.

Mama: Cheeseburger?

Vince: That's for me.

Cheeseburger, fries.

Mama: No onions?

Vince: No onions.

Nice to be remembered and loved.

Mama: Always.

Vince: You know I don't like onions.

Tom: I'll have a cheeseburger and onions.

Mama: Thank you.

Vince: Thank you, darling girl.

Mama: I'll get your food.

Tom: Thank you, dear.

Mama: One cheeseburger with tomato and onion.

And fries.

Tom: Look at you.

Mama: Extra napkins.

Vince: Lookee there.

Mama: One no onions.

Vince: Thank you, beautiful.

Tom: Thank you, dear.

Mama: Thank you.

Y'all enjoy.

Tom: Alright, Vince, I'm gonna give this a shot.

Vince: Okay.

Tom: Let's see how you did.

Vince: Don't be too harsh.

Tom: Ooh!

Vince: [ Laughs ] Is that a good "ooh"?

Tom: Perfect.

It's perfect.

[ Both laugh ] Alright, Vince, where we heading to now?

Vince: Man, I'm taking you to the mecca of all guitar shops.

George Gruhn has a shop that he's had here since, I think, 1970.

We've been friends since I was 18 years old, and I've bought an awful lot of guitars from him over the years.

Tom: Yeah.

Vince: He lives in a nice house because of me.

[ Both laugh ] We went down 17th earlier, a big part of Music Row.

This is 16th Avenue, where the little houses like that would be great publishing houses.

Tom: Yeah.

Vince: Might be a studio in there.

And there's a million studios along here.

Tom: This looks like the place.

Vince: This is it.

Tom: Ooh!

Watch out for the cat.

Vince: Alright.

Hi, kitty.

Tom: Oh, my gosh.

Look at these.

Vince: Welcome to Gruhn Guitars, my friend.

Tom: Look at all these guitars.

Vince: These are all mandolins here.

Bill Monroe played.

Tom: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Vince: And George Gruhn owns this shop.

George and I have been friends since 1975.

Tom: Well, I mean, look at all these guitars.

Where do they come from?

Where does he get them?

Vince: Well, people bring them in and consign them.

He buys them and sells them and has been doing it, like I said, for 50-something, 55 years almost now.

Tom: Yeah.

Vince: These are all old Fender Stratocasters.

Tom: Stratocasters?

Vince: Fender Stratocaster.

Right there on the... Tom: Yep.

Vince: And they started making these in 1954 and still make them to this day.

Some jazz boxes, arch tops.

Tom: You call them jazz boxes?

Vince: Yeah, that's what the jazz guys play.

Tom: Yeah.

Vince: These old Gibsons.

This is a '59, I think.

Tom: This one right here -- $22,000.

Vince: Uh-huh.

That one's 115.

Tom: Which one?

Vince: That blonde one.

This one right here.

Tom: Wow.

Oh, this row.

Vince: Around the corner, they got a bunch of banjos.

Tom: I see that.

Look at this one right here.

Vince: Yep.

Tom: It's beautiful.

And the cool thing about old instruments is they appreciate in value.

A lot of people don't realize that.

They just think they're crazy-expensive, but sometimes, for banjo or guitar, it's in really, really, really great condition, it'll bring more money because it hadn't been messed with.

I know this kid.

Tom: Yeah.

Vince: Hey, Ali Brown.

Alison: Hey, Vince.

How you been, buddy?

Good to see you.

I know you know this fella, Tommy.

Tom: Hey, Alison.

Alison: It's great to see you again.

Tom: You helped us out at the Station Inn.

And I understand that you're a world-class banjo player.

Alison: Maybe according to some.

Tom: Can you guys play us out?

Vince: Yeah.

Tom: Alright.

Vince: Let's play one.

How about "John Henry"?

Alison: Yeah.

Vince: Alright.

Tom: Thanks for a wonderful day.

Vince: Thanks for letting me be on your show.

It was fun.

What a great day.

Kevin: Tommy, you got quite the tour, huh?

V.I.P.

treatment.

Tom: Yeah.

Vince was great.

He's a regular guy and he's a great storyteller.

Kevin: No surprise you guys hit it off, right?

Tom: Yeah.

[ Laughs ] Kevin: Hey, Jenn!

Welcome.

Jenn: Thank you.

Kevin: Alright.

What are you here for?

Jenn: Oh, I'm just finalizing the landscape plans.

We got to do a little cleanup first, though.

Kevin: Yeah.

That means we're getting close.

Jenn: Yep.

Kevin: For all of us here in Tennessee, I'm Kevin O'Connor.

Tom: I'm Tom Silva.

Rachel: I'm Rich Trethewey.

Jenn: I'm Jenn Nawada.

Kevin: For "This Old House" here in Nashville.

He's hanging out with Vince Gill.

Rachel: I was jealous of you.

Jenn: I know.

Not bad.

Tom: I had a great tour.

Kevin: Next time on "This Old House"... We are going to install a new composite deck with the help from a familiar face.

Man: And the nice thing about the porch-floor product is that when you look up from the bottom of this, it'll look nice and consistent and there won't be any debris that falls through.

Kevin: Because it's tongue and groove.

Man: Exactly.

Yeah.

Jenn: I'm here at a local landscape-design-build garden center that's helped Rachel bring the vision for her front yard to life.

Kevin: And we're creating shelter from the storms by building a residential safe room.