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Newton GenNEXT | Homeowner Going the Distance
02/08/18 | 23m 43s | Rating: TV-G
Liz helps Norm lay composite decking. Charlie makes exterior decorative brackets. Kevin watches a quartz countertop get installed. Roger’s crew paves the front walk. Liz puts in her stained glass window. Dry wells are needed for storm water runoff.
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Newton GenNEXT | Homeowner Going the Distance
Kevin
Today on "This Old House"...
Norm
This new porch gets decked with recycled material.
Kevin
Our homeowner adds a beautiful touch to the mudroom.
Roger
And these eight giant tanks will control the rainfall from a storm of the century.
Kevin
What happened to all of this plumbing here?
Norm
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.
Tom
This one right here is right on.
Kevin
Family that paints together stays together. Nice job.
Richard
Where will a slab like this be used?
Money is in the detail. -Kevin
That is beautiful.
Kevin
Hi, there. I'm Kevin O'Connor, and welcome back to "This Old House" here in Newton, Massachusetts, where you can see the progress we are making on this house. Check out our new front porch. That has been completely reframed. We've got new decking down. We've got new posts. And we were able to save the original railing, which went back in place. Now, much of that work was done by our apprentices, and sadly, we had to say good-bye to them last week, so they're going to be missed. Right here, you may recall there was a big Norway maple and had a big bruise on the bottom. It was also very close to the house and the power lines, so Roger had it taken down, and our homeowner, Joe, well, he's actually splitting it into firewood. So next year, that'll be conditioned, and he's going to be able to burn it a new woodburning stove that we're installing for him next week. And over here, check out the side of the house. This is the first time you could really see this side with the tree down. The siding is almost up. We've got clapboards on the first floor. We've got shingles on the second floor. And our homeowners picked a pre-primed prepainted look, so those are the final colors, and that is going to look sweet. And out back, well, we got another project going on back there, as well. Good morning,
Norm. -Norm
Hey, Kevin.
Kevin
Hey there,
Liz. -Liz
Hey. How are you?
Kevin
All right. Working hard again, huh? Last week tile, this week, a deck, huh?
Liz
Yeah.
Kevin
And it looks like a composite deck.
Norm
Right. Kevin, it's a composite material. We've used materials like this before. It's made out of recycled wood products and polyethylene,
like water bottles. -Kevin
Cool.
Norm
And it gets extruded when it's made. And this one has a coating on the top when it's extruded that helps reduce fading and scratching.
Kevin
Nice. And so they also give you the color
and the wood tone right here. -Norm
Right.
Kevin
Although, Liz, I guess you could have gone with natural wood. Why the composite?
Liz
We like the recycled content of the material and the durability. I'd rather be playing out here with my kids than maintaining a deck.
Kevin
Boy,
I hear that. Yeah. -Liz
It looks great.
Norm
So now it gets attached with these clips. It's got a groove already cut in it, and the clip goes in like this, and then a screw goes through this hole to fasten it. And they go in this. It looks like a nail gun, right?
Kevin
Yeah.
Norm
But it's actually driving these screws down through the clip, and the clip also holds it up, giving an air space between the frame and the decking.
Kevin
Mm-hmm.
Norm
It also spaces the decking. Right here, you can see the space. So it makes it pretty easy.
Kevin
Nice. All right. Well, you guys have obviously made some progress, so you've got a plan. I promised Charlie some help, so I'll leave you guys to this.
Okay. -Liz
Great.
Norm
All right. Okay. That plank is secure. Now, the next one will fit, but we need a small piece for here.
Right. -Norm
And we'll rip that now.
Liz
Okay.
Norm
Okay, Liz, so this is where we'll rip the piece. The manufacturer suggests a carbide blade. If you could just help guide it. Okay. Liz, let's just slide that underneath the skirtboard.
Liz
All right. And my cut side goes towards the house, right?
Yeah. -Liz
Okay.
Norm
All right. Now, to fill the gap we see now, we're going to put in a full-width piece. Just drop it in. Okay. We can't use the clips here. So we're going to use these screws. They're stainless steel, and they match the color of the decking. So, Liz, what I want you to do is take the spar and just pull on it like that so it's nice and tight...
Okay. -Norm
And I'll drive the screw.
Liz
All right. Like that?
Norm
Yeah. Perfect. We're going to drive the screw. You don't want to drive it in too much. Just kind of flush so it looks nice. Good.
All right. Great. -Norm
All right. We'll do the same thing all the way down the line. All right. Liz, last piece. Use a spacer since we don't have a clip in there.
Liz
Okay.
Norm
And we've put some screws in to get them started, but it's also nice just to take this bar and just put a little pressure on it.
Okay. -Norm
Okay?
Yeah. -Norm
All set?
Yeah. -Norm
Okay. Let's do it. Okay. All right. Liz, that finishes it. That went pretty well, and it looks great.
Wow. I love it. -Norm
Yeah.
Liz
Thanks,
Norm. -Norm
Thank you.
Liz
Now we've got a spot for lunch.
Norm
All right.
Kevin
One of the original features of our house is these ornamental brackets. And when we added a second story to the back of the house for the master suite and the new garage, we needed more, 56 more to be exact. Now, we could have replicated them all using the CNC machine, but that's expensive and it's a budget job, Charlie, so you've got a better way.
Charlie
It is a budget job, and I figured I'd do it at night, believe it or not. Save the homeowners some money and give me something to do.
Kevin
You got nothing better to do, all right. So it's a big, beefy piece of material. And if we were to make it out of solid stock, we need about 4-inches thick, we need it by 10 or 12-inches wide, and you're talking cedar, right?
Charlie
Yeah. It would have been expensive, and it still would have given us another process still to mill it down to get our dimensions. So it's not like we would have bought it off
the shelf like that. -Kevin
Right.
Charlie
So we took two-by-twelve western red cedar, glued it together.
Kevin
Easy to get our hands on that stock.
Charlie
It is. We cleaned up the edges. Squared one of them. We're going to get two of these brackets every 15 inches. So I'm going to mark it up, cut it on the chop saw and then we're going to start templating. All right. Now we can put our sample piece on. We're going to line up the two square edges with the bracket. Make a nice dark line so we can see it. And now just, on the opposite side, do the same thing. All set?
Kevin
It's good there. I'm going to separate these?
Charlie
Yeah. That would be great. All right. Now that I have these separated, I'm going to square up these two cuts on the chop saw. All right. Just follow the line, but leave the pencil line on 'cause we'll hit it with the sander to clean it up.
Kevin
Okay. All right. Let's check this out, Charlie. Wow. Look at that. That looks terrific, and a perfect match to the originals.
Charlie
It is a perfect match. And guess what? We only have 50 more to do, and you are more than welcome to get out here and help us.
Kevin
Yeah. Uh... I got places to be.
I think you got this one. -Charlie
Next time, right?
Yeah. Next time. -Charlie
Okay.
Kevin
All right. Newton homeowners Joe and Liz are at the point where they're considering counter tops, and one of the things they're thinking about is quartz, which is exactly what we're using here at our idea house in Rhode Island. And, Jeff, you like it because you've used it before
and you're using it again. -Jeff
Yeah. Yeah. One of the things I like about it is that
it's a man-made product. -Kevin
Mm-hmm.
Jeff
So that enables us to control the mixture, the content. Any of the design elements can be combined with any flares, any designs in the quartz. The other thing I like about it is that it's a very durable surface. It doesn't require sealing. It doesn't require any maintenance. And the last thing I like about it is that we don't have to go pick the slab. So we could pick up off a sample, and then we can be pretty well sure that it's going to look like that sample.
Kevin
Yeah. Even though quartz itself is natural, that man-made process gives us the uniformity of look. And you know, from the sample, you're going to get
the exact same thing on a slab. -Jeff
Yeah. To connect two sections, we use a special machine that draws the pieces together. All right. We're going to finish up this last seam. We'll clean that up, drill for our faucet, install a cooktop.
Mm-hmm. -Jeff
And we got a counter top.
Kevin
All right. And I've got something to report back to Joe and Liz. I know how it looks.
Jeff
Yes,
you do. -Kevin
All right. Thanks, Jeff.
Jeff
All right.
Kevin
When we rebuilt this front porch, we made a big improvement to the front steps, and that gave us an opportunity to make a big improvement to this front walk, Roger -- two bad pieces of concrete that are now gone.
Roger
And filling in where there was one missing piece of concrete, huh?
Kevin
Right. And so instead of concrete, you're going down with new pavers.
Roger
Right. Except these are concrete. They're not clay pavers. They're concrete pavers.
Kevin
So made to look like a brick. So they definitely got the color right and they got the size right. That's for sure. What do you love about these?
Roger
Every one is exactly the same. So when you lay them down, you don't have to worry about if one is longer, shorter, thicker, or anything like that. It makes us go really fast.
Kevin
All right. And your prep work here for the base, same formula as usual?
Roger
Same formula as usual. Dig out the loam, dig out the clay, put in crusher run, pack that down, a little bit of sand, screed it off, set the pavers. Kevin, we're putting these down in a running bond pattern. That means they'll all run in the same direction on the long walkway.
Kevin
So a pretty simple pattern, and really very few cuts, right? Just here at the end and at the front.
Roger
Very few, and that's a good thing.
We don't mind missing those. -Kevin
Right.
Roger
Now, the one thing I want you to notice, that each one of these has nubs on them. Okay?
Kevin
Mm-hmm.
Roger
And that's so when they fit together, they're perfect spacing for -- We're going to be putting in polymeric sand, and that allows it to get down into the joint.
Kevin
Wow. That's nice. That's one of the reasons why it goes so fast, right?
Roger
Yeah. So when you put these in, you click it next to the other brick
that's in and drop it. -Kevin
Oh, yeah.
Roger
Perfect spacing every time.
Kevin
Perfect spacing. And so, if that had been a traditional brick, with its irregular shape, you'd have to set that off manually to make sure that you had enough room.
Roger
Right. You'd probably have to hit it with a rubber hammer to move it down, and then shake it one side to the other.
Hence the speed. -Roger
Hence the speed.
Kevin
So, Roger, with this edge course you've got going there, sometimes I see you guys sort of flip them up on end
so you can bury them. -Roger
Right. And that would be to hold the walk in place, but if you look closely, there's little nubs on here, another one right here, and he bought them as unfinished. So you don't want to see the bottom or these nubs.
Kevin
So that's why Tom is laying them flat right here.
Roger
Right. So what we're going to do for strength at the edge is, we're going to use this plastic edging. It's going to butt up against the brick. Then we're just going to drive a spike down through into the ground, and that'll hold it in place.
Kevin
And we're not even going to see this, are we?
Roger
No. We're going to scrape off a little sand, and it'll sit on the base and it'll just hold that edge right in place. Kevin, now the secret to a good walk is to sweep the joints in with polymeric sand. We use a compactor that'll vibrate the pavers and move the polymeric sand down in the joints. The last step is misting the bricks so that the polymeric sand gets washed down and activated, and then it'll lock up, and it'll be rock solid.
Kevin
All right. And is it ready to be walked on?
Roger
For you, it is. Yeah.
Kevin
Perfect, because I got to go inside and check out some stained glass. I'm going to see you out back because we got some heavy industry going on, right?
A lot going on out back. -Kevin
All right. Roger, this looks beautiful. Liz has worked tirelessly on a stained-glass window for this little pantry area here. Hey,
guys. -Liz
Hey.
Kevin
So it's finally back on site, and we get to look at this masterpiece. That is awesome.
Liz
Thank you.
Kevin
So, Liz, this was your creation, and what was the inspiration?
Liz
The Japanese maple in the front yard.
Kevin
Well, that explains all these beautiful red colors right here all throughout. The last time we saw this, the glass was cut. It was ground, and then it was soldered in place. What happens after that?
Michel
The next step would be to put a zinc framer on it.
Kevin
Yeah.
Michel
And then, after, was the black patina that was applied to the solder, and to finish, we applied wax...
Kevin
The wax to protect this.
Michel
To clean and protect the glass and the solder.
Kevin
Beautiful. Well, you are a good teacher. This student has pulled this one off. Is that ready to go in?
Liz
Yeah.
Yes. It is. -Kevin
Let's see that. This is going to look terrific with the light behind it.
Michel
I'm on top, inside the... Here we go. Excellent.
Liz
Okay. Is that it?
That's it. -Kevin
All right. Let's see what this thing looks like installed.
Wow. -Liz
Whoa.
Kevin
Awesome. You like that, Liz?
Liz
I love it, I can't believe it, I can't believe it's done. Thank you,
Michel. -Michel
You're welcome.
Kevin
Very nice job, guys, very nice. When it rains here in Newton, all that rainwater runoff from roofs and gutters and driveways, it all goes into a town storm drainage system, which is old and overwhelmed. So when we add new buildings, like our garage here, which means less ground to absorb the rainwater and more roof surface to shed it, well, the town requires that we deal with the runoff. And, Roger, that explains the massive hole
that is now in our backyard. -Roger
Yeah. It's 8-feet wide and 7-feet deep, and it's an engineered trench for us to control water. We removed 100-yards of material to prep this hole. One we had it down that deep, we put down the fabric on the sides. And on the bottom, we're putting in a foot of stone to lay these galleys or dry wells on.
Kevin
This is the galley right here, this tank coming in?
Roger
Yeah. This is the main part of the system. There's going to be eight of those set in, per the engineer's spec, and they'll all lock up together, and then we'll do a couple other things to control the rest of the water.
Kevin
And how long is this trench?
Thirty-six feet. -Kevin
That is a big hole.
Roger
Yep. So these concrete bins are open in the middle. The water goes inside and then slowly strains down into the ground.
Kevin
And are they piped together,
or are they just sort of... -Roger
No. They're just sort of meshed together. They don't have to be watertight. So if a little comes out, it's not going to make any difference.
Kevin
Right.
Roger
We want the water to come out. Each one of these galleys will hold 300 gallons of water. So we're looking at 2,400 gallons just in the galleys alone, but with the stone that's there, it's going to even hold more water than that.
Kevin
And, you know, so this is underneath the driveway, so, obviously, they're built to be able to, you know, drive a car over this area when it's filled.
Roger
Right. This is what's called H20 or a heavy-duty tank,
so you can drive over it. -Kevin
Right.
Roger
And you can see, also, there's a clean out in the top. It's going to be to make sure, if debris gets in there, we can take it away.
Kevin
This is a lot of engineering. What does this thing cost?
Roger
This is a lot of engineering and a lot of work, and it's probably going to be about $25,000 by the time we're done.
Kevin
Boy, that's unbelievable. And obviously, not a surprise to the homeowners, right?
Roger
No, no. This was all figured right from the get-go in the beginning because you can't get a building permit without doing this work.
Kevin
You pull a permit, they tell you you got to do this. So he's starting with a little bit of the backfill, huh?
Roger
Right. He wants to start from the back and work his way out as he's setting the galleys. Kevin, this fabric you see all the way around the edge is a soil separator. What it does, it keeps all the fines that are in the soil from getting into the stone and all the voids we have inside it.
Kevin
Essentially, you don't want this system to clog up.
Roger
No.
Kevin
It's amazing to think, Roger, that, I mean, prior to this, they used to just use the gutters from the house and the sewers in the street. And now, I mean, look at all this engineering.
Roger
Yeah, and the engineering took into consideration of a lot of things. Number one was, they did a perc test to test the soil to see how fast the water would go through it. Number two is impervious surface. You got to a roof you got to take into calculations and the driveway. And all that water that runs off of that, you got to control it. So they figured this system for a 100-year storm. Now in a 100-year storm, you're going to get 9 inches of rain over 24 hours.
Kevin
Holy mackerel. That's an insane amount of water.
Roger
Well, with all the tanks in, Jimmy can now start backfilling them. He's going to take and backfill them all the way to the top and up to about a foot above the tank, but he's still got some other stuff to do. He's got to cut the driveway, put in a trench drain that'll tie in there and collect that downspout and run it in for another one.
Kevin
A lot of work, right?
Roger
A lot of work.
Kevin
Hey,
Tommy. -Tom
Hey. Boy, a lot of work just to collect a little rainwater, isn't it?
Roger
A little rainwater?
Kevin
Not a little rainwater, a lot if it ever comes.
Yeah. -Kevin
All right. So some good progress this week, fellas. And, Roger, next week, what have you got for us?
Roger
Next week, hopefully, we'll prep for planting, and I got a few special guests that are going to help me out.
Kevin
Hmm. Interesting. And, Tommy, what about you?
Tom
We're going to install a fireback behind the stove in the kitchen.
Kevin
Sounds cool. All right. So, until then, I'm Kevin O'Connor.
I'm Roger Cook. -Tom
And I'm Tom Silva.
Kevin
For "This Old House."
Roger
A little rainwater?
Tom
A little rain, you know.
Kevin
How many 100-year storms have you been through?
Tom
Two.
Kevin
Next time on "This Old House"...
Tom
Have you ever heard of a fireback? Well, Joe and Liz found a unique way to use one in their kitchen.
Roger
It's time to bring back the beauty of this old landscape.
Kevin
Wow. Holy smoke. So, Jeff, what am I looking at here?
Jeff
So you're looking at 110-year-old reclaimed oak. Came out of a barn in Ohio.
Norm
That's next time on "This Old House."
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