This Old House

KEVIN

Today on "This Old House," we start work on a backyard treehouse.

TOM

I'll put decorative shingles on our new front gables.

KEVIN

Spectacular, Tommy. Our homeowners find a floor covering for the kitchen inspired by sailors.

KATHERINE

I love it.

TOM

Looks pretty bad right here.

NORM

Are you kidding me? Is this place really worth saving?

RICHARD

We can do better than this.

TOM

Time to get to work.

KEVIN

Nice and easy, nice and easy. Everybody together.

Grunting

KEVIN

Oh, yeah!

ROGER

The right plant in the right place.

KEVIN

Good!

RICHARD

It's state-of-the-art, perfectly square. All in all, a good day's work.

KEVIN

Welcome back to "This Old House." I'm Kevin O'Connor. As you can see, over the last couple of weeks, we made a lot of progress to the outside of our house. The mud room, completely sided and trimmed out, and look at all the progress we've made on the front porch, with still a little bit more to go. Tommy, what are you working on today?

TOM

Well, right here over the front entryway, Kevin, you can see that there's an arch over the rakes.

Cool. -TOM

All right, so what we're gonna do is we're actually gonna shingle that, but we're gonna get our inspiration for the shingling right here up on that dormer.

KEVIN

Look at that. That thing is beautiful, huh?

TOM

Yeah, it's arched shingle rows, and we're gonna do that. And that's a lot of work, and it's gonna take a lot of time,

and it's hot out. -KEVIN

It is, isn't it?

TOM

And I don't want to work outside.

KEVIN

Aw, you slowing down?

TOM

I want to work inside. so what I did is, I went up there, and I actually made a template of the area.

KEVIN

Oh, very cool. Tar paper?

TOM

Tar-paper template. So now I transfer this to a sheet of plywood inside, and I'll shingle all my shingling inside.

KEVIN

Beautiful. All right, well, I want to make sure I come back and check on that when you're done. -Give me the heads up?

TOM

Okay.

KEVIN

Thank you,

Tommy. -TOM

Thank you. Okay, so now what I did is, I actually took my tar-paper template, and I laid it on this sheet of plywood, and then I marked all the way around off of my references. I then took my saw and cut out the plywood. So, now this piece of plywood will fit up into that opening perfect. I cover the sheet of plywood with a matrix material so if any moisture gets behind the shingles, the shingles will dry. This swing board pivots to give me the angle for each shingle. A slot in the middle allows me to cut them. Holes on the pivot board show me where to place the shingles on each course. Okay, now, that row right there is nothing but a starter course or filler course. I'm gonna go over it again with another row. My swing stick has given me the angles to cut the shingle at. Now it's gonna give me the height for the coursings of the reveal. Place the shingle on that, tack 'em, cut 'em, and continue on up. All right, Dan, we're ready. You can pass it up. We're gonna glue it to the wall. Keep it down a little bit low there, right where your hand is. It's gonna go right in there. Hope it fits.

KEVIN

Hope it fits? Come on.

Chuckles

TOM

Look at that.

KEVIN

So, you got the adhesive. Just have to tack it in place.

TOM

Yeah. So, get it against the adhesive, and then I'm just gonna actually take some stainless-steel siding nails,

and we'll nail it in place. -KEVIN

Spectacular.

It does look good. -KEVIN

Nice job, Tommy. -Hey,

Katherine. -KATHERINE

Hey, Kevin.

KEVIN

Oh, wow. Are these the pieces you got at Brimfield, -the antique market?

KATHERINE

Yeah, exactly, yeah. You remember, I had a list from Amanda. She had a long set of things she wanted me to look for. I found this one for the master bathroom. I thought it looked really great, but the color's not right.

KEVIN

Okay, so you're changing it to what?

KATHERINE

To the trim color, chantilly lace.

KEVIN

Match that, nice. I saw your haggling skills. Did you get a good price on this one?

KATHERINE

I was able to talk him down a little.

KEVIN

All right, nice piece, and a perfect project.

KATHERINE

Thanks a lot.

KEVIN

All right, I'll catch up with you.

TOM

It's time to install our columns on our front porch. Now, our columns are wood, round, tapered, and the first thing I did is, I installed our solid PVC cap on top of our shingled base. Now we're ready to get the height for our column. To do that, I'm gonna start with this base that they give us right here. Set it on top of our base right here. Take the round base and sit it on top of our metal base. Take the post cap that's gonna go up there, but I'm gonna set it down here. Now I can measure from the underside of the beam to the top of the cap. We have 51 3/4". That's the height of our column. All right. So now you can actually see how the round column is made. It's actually made of individual boards that are mitered to match the diameter of the circle. It's actually western red cedar. It's finger jointed and primed on the inside. Now, we just the bottom, and we cut off that primed edge. Now we want to make sure that we preprime that before we put it together. All right. Now we can start assembling our column, and we'll start with the top piece. And now we'll attach the metal base. To keep the rain from going inside the column, we're actually gonna use this lead flashing right here, and we want to make sure that it overhangs equally on each side. And I just take it and bend it down. And we should be able to slide it right in with the least little pressure up there. All right, position it on your lines up there.

Tapping

TOM

All right, we got a couple of screws to put on that side and that side at the top and four screws on the bottom, and that will fasten our column. Only seven more to do.

KEVIN

Tommy put down some beautiful hardwood floors here in the kitchen. You can see that they're already finished. But Katherine and Murat decided to cover some of it up. They're gonna do that right here underneath a kitchen table, and they're gonna use a floor covering that was popular in the 19th century. It's called floor cloth, and Katherine, her designer, Amanda, and I are headed up to Vermont to learn more about it. All right, guys, this is it. Welcome to Weathersfield, a little town in Southeastern Vermont, and it's also home to Lisa Mair. She's got a workshop here, and she makes floor coverings that a lot of homes probably haven't seen in almost 150 years.

Door opens

AMANDA

Hi,

Lisa. -LISA

Hi.

AMANDA

Thanks for having us back.

LISA

Good to see you again.

KEVIN

Hey, Lisa. Good to see you.

LISA

Nice to meet you.

KEVIN

Wow. So this is the showroom workshop, huh?

Beautiful. -LISA

Thank you.

KEVIN

So, I have to admit, this is sort of new, to me, at least. The floor cloth. What are they, exactly?

LISA

Well, it's a painted canvas rug, and they go back to before the 1800s, but in the early 1800s, they were very popular. And then linoleum came along and sort of scratched them out. But we're working to bring them back. The finish that we put on top makes them extremely durable and easy to clean.

KEVIN

So, linoleum comes along and maybe they fade away, but now they're coming back, or at least within your world, coming back? Why do you think that is?

LISA

The customization is the key. I can do all kinds of different designs, and the sky's the limit. It's literally a blank canvas.

KEVIN

Can we see how they're made, see how durable they are?

Absolutely. -KEVIN

Oh, the workshop.

LISA

So, this is where we make everything before it gets painted.

KEVIN

Okay. And what is the raw material here?

LISA

This is a heavyweight canvas. Much, much heavier than artist-grade canvas.

KEVIN

And the paint's going on right here. What is this that she's putting down?

LISA

It's an enamel exterior marine grade paint. It's what you put on boats.

KEVIN

Oh, wow. All right.

LISA

The reason that that works so well is it stays very flexible. So it won't crack. We roll these to ship them, and if they move around on the floor, that can cause them to crack if you don't use a very flexible paint.

KEVIN

Then what do you do with it?

LISA

Then we cut it to size, and we hem it on a heavy-duty sewing machine.

KEVIN

Just around the perimeter, obviously.

LISA

Yep. After we prime it and hem it, we sand it.

KEVIN

Come on. You sand the canvas?

LISA

We sand it to just take that tooth off. And then we put a base coat on, and then we sand it again.

KEVIN

So, this is a real craft. I mean, this is labor intensive.

LISA

It takes a lot of time.

Chuckles

KEVIN

Yes.

LISA

So, once the floor cloth is all prepped, it comes over here, and I start laying out the design and start painting it. And for each piece, I have a printout that I've generated, and it's made to scale.

KEVIN

From that piece of paper, though, to this canvas, everything is by hand.

Exactly. -KEVIN

Wow.

KATHERINE

And how's mine coming along?

LISA

Yours is almost done. It's just waiting for its final coat of clear coat. -Do you want to go see?

KATHERINE

Yeah.

LISA

So, here it is, all ready for its final coat of clear coat.

KEVIN

Katherine, the big reveal.

KATHERINE

Ooh!

KEVIN

Huh? What do you think?

KATHERINE

Oh, it's perfect. I really love it.

KEVIN

So, Amanda, you had a hand in designing this. -What was the thought?

AMANDA

Right. Well, Katherine had told me that her family's always had yellow kitchens. So we're not gonna have yellow walls, but this is our yellow. Bringing it in with the floor cloth, and then this just goes along with the whole design for the house where we're using old things but updating them. So, this is something that the floor cloth was used during Victorian times, and we're updating it with a contemporary

wide stripe pattern. -KEVIN

Beautiful. And, Lisa, you say it needs what, another coat? But to my eye, that looks finished.

LISA

It has two coats already of a gloss finish, and then we'll get a third coat of the semi-gloss finish just to dull it down a little bit and to give it that one extra coat of protection.

KEVIN

And so when that goes on, we can let it dry, and it can come down to the house?

Absolutely. -KEVIN

Excited for that. Thank you for the tour, teaching us what floor cloth is, and we're looking forward to having this back at the house.

Great. -KATHERINE

Thanks.

LISA

Thank you.

KEVIN

Oh, Tommy, these columns look fantastic.

TOM

Yeah, they do look good on top of these shingled piers with the taper.

KEVIN

Really dresses up this porch. Now, the porch has taken a lot of work here, right, but it is a signature part of this house.

TOM

It is a lot of work. You're right, it is a new focal point of the house.

KEVIN

So, what's going on now? You're working on the railings.

TOM

Right. Now we have to put railings between all of these piers, and so I'm taking some measurements so I can fabricate everything inside.

KEVIN

All right. Let's have a look at that.

TOM

Now, for the railings, we're actually gonna use a traditional style with traditional material.

KEVIN

What do you got here?

TOM

Well, this is actually solid cedar.

KEVIN

Beautiful.

TOM

All right, so, let's stand it up so we can put the subrail on top of each one of the balusters. So, now what we want to do is just line up the top pieces with the marks that I placed on the side there. It's got to fit right in between here. Slide it right in. Now, there's a line there. It's gonna go just a little bit above that line. Okay. Now, that line represents the height of our railing to meet building code right here at the top of the drop. So that's 36 inches. But if I measure here in the middle where the railing drops, we don't even come close to building code.

KEVIN

So this beautiful curve right here

is actually hurting us now. -TOM

Right. Now, we could put a piece of 2-by here, but that would really ruin the look or the integrity of it. So, what I want to do is I want to take this cable right here, and we're gonna stretch it across the top of the railing at the top of the drop. And that will give us our 36 inches to meet our code.

KEVIN

Cool.

TOM

Okay. Now just push it right in, and that'll lock into place. So now what we're gonna do is we're gonna tighten up on these, and that will tighten up on the cable. We'll have to go in parallel. Keep it down below that. Yeah, that second course. Don't go in too fast on me. Have a center mark to go on. All right, that's good. Now let's see if we can fit in the top one. Take it from the outside and slide it in. Got to go down below our cable. Center that right under the cable. -All right,

I'm good here. -KEVIN

I'm good here, too.

TOM

All right, now all we have to do is screw this in place, and four more to go.

KEVIN

I tell you what. First one looks terrific. -Nice job,

Tommy. -TOM

All right, thanks.

KEVIN

One of the first things our homeowners said they wanted in their backyard was a treehouse, and that stopped me dead in my tracks because I love treehouses. In fact, this is a treehouse I built in my own backyard for my kids. Treehouses take people, especially children, to a magical place. They put you up in the trees where you can imagine a different world. Today, treehouses are over-the-top expressions of that juvenile fantasy. And the most elaborate ones -- they're not for kids anymore. Our plans, well, they're a little bit more modest, and today, we're gonna start building. So that means that my first stop is a trip to the home center to get some supplies. Katherine and Murat want the tree deck to be about eight feet off the ground, so we'll give them that. And then given the size and shape of this yard, we figured something rectangular would work, maybe 8 feet wide by 10 feet long. -Hey, Katherine. Hey,

Murat. -KATHERINE

Hey, Kevin.

KEVIN

Morning,

Tommy. -TOM

Hey, Kevin.

KEVIN

What a crew you got going here, huh?

TOM

What do you got doing? What are you doing there?

KEVIN

Oh, just fashion statement, you know, a guy I know. I wear it for inspiration.

TOM

You're beautiful, you know that? You want one? You guys want one?

KATHERINE

I'll take a size small.

We'll get you guys one. -TOM

You're unbelievable.

KEVIN

All right, let's talk treehouse here. We have got to get this thing secured to that tree, and there's a couple things we need to think about.

TOM

Right, and the first thing is is, how important the bark is to the tree because it gets all the nutrients up to the tree and allows it to grow. So we don't want to fasten any of our structure directly to the tree. We also have to make sure that we allow for the growth of the tree. Not only does it grow up, but it actually grows out. So we have to allow for that.

KEVIN

So the best thing we can do is make just a small penetration into the side of the tree, and we've got some specialty hardware here. We just picked it up off the Internet, made for treehouses. So, we'll actually lag that into the side of the tree, and then the lumber's gonna sit right on this plate, a couple beams, and we'll build off of that.

TOM

Right. First thing we need to do is drill a 3-inch hole to the size of this collar first because we got to drill it deep enough for this to be flush with the bark. All right, so, that's pretty good.

KEVIN

Okay, so that hole is sufficient for the diameter of this collar right here. Now we have another, smaller diameter for this section and even smaller still for the threaded part. So, two more bits, two more holes. Keep going, keep going, hold. That's it. All right, back it out. Reverse it. All right. Clean that out. Murat, why don't you help us get the bolt in? If you'll grab that and bring it up.

Sure. -KEVIN

All right, Murat, let's just thread that in by hand to get it started.

MURAT

Okay.

TOM

It won't go too far. You'll see it grab.

KEVIN

Yeah.

TOM

All right, good.

KEVIN

Now we've got the plate on already, that's key, and then we've got this nut at the end. All right, now give it a turn with that. Now we're setting it into the tree. All right. Keep going as much as you can. Nice and level.

Indistinct talking

KEVIN

-Same idea,

other side. -MURAT

All right, let's do it.

KEVIN

All right, guys, so the main support for the deck is gonna be two beams, and we're gonna make them up out of 2x10s. We're gonna take two 2x10s. We're gonna glue 'em and nail 'em together. Put this one up on top. Let's flip it over. It's clean. Lay it down. And then get your end and your sides all squared up.

Nail gun firing

KEVIN

-Your edge is good?

KATHERINE

Yep.

TOM

All right, just lay it right on this plate. I marked the center, but let's see how it is balance wise. Right about there. How's it feel?

KEVIN

That's pretty good, balanced.

TOM

Okay, now, let me get one screw in it.

Drill whirring

TOM

Okay. So now, if you want to give me that level. You can tack that right there.

Drill whirs

KEVIN

Good?

TOM

Yeah.

KEVIN

Get the other side.

Okay. -TOM

Good.

TOM

Now we'll get the other one up.

Okay. -TOM

Good. Now we got to get a measurement in between and run a header.

KEVIN

So, we've got the beam hanging on these bolts right here, and we've got all the joists laid no top of the beam. So, those are supported. Now we just have to support this end of our frame here, Tommy.

TOM

Right. And to do that, we're actually gonna use a piece of 4x6" pressure-treated, and I've cut a notch at the top to go underneath this cross beam.

KEVIN

Yeah.

TOM

We've actually cut a slot in the bottom so that we could insert this bracket and through bolt it with a couple of 5/8" carriage bolts.

KEVIN

Right, we got this bracket from the same place on the Internet that we got those bolts right there. Made specifically for this purpose.

TOM

Right, so now what we've done is we've actually jacked this up out of level just a little bit. Before we put this in, we want to put some tension on it. -All right, you ready?

KEVIN

Yep.

TOM

Now we'll drill the tree. Right there. Want a break? All right. I think that's it. All right, now, the idea of this is to not tighten this bolt down tight to the bracket. That allows for the tree to grow.

KEVIN

All right, one more to go.

TOM

Do the other side.

KEVIN

So, the deck is all pressure treated, the frame at least, and we thought that we'd make the railing system out of these small trees and branches. So, imagine a big corner post right here. Murat, if you'll grab that one right there, and, Katherine, if you'll grab a small one like this guy.

Sure. -KEVIN

So, corner posts. Envision a top rail.

And then the balusters. -MURAT

Wow. That's great.

KATHERINE

Wow. That's gonna be amazing.

KEVIN

All right. So let me show you what this is gonna look like, guys.

We'll put that right in there. -MURAT

Wow.

KATHERINE

Kevin, you're a genius.

KEVIN

I don't know about that, but it is gonna look cool. Let me just set this home.

MURAT

Oh,

yeah. -TOM

That's gonna look good.

KEVIN

Pretty cool, right?

TOM

Yeah.

KEVIN

All righty. So for next time, Tommy, we got to what, put the deck down?

TOM

Put the deck down, and we're gonna finish that railing.

KEVIN

Very nice, all right. So, until then, I'm Kevin O'Connor.

I'm Katherine Bicer. -MURAT

I'm Murat Bicer.

TOM

And I'm Tom Silva.

KEVIN

For "This Old Treehouse."

TOM

Nice rustic railing. It's gonna be great.

KEVIN

Next time on "This Old House"...

NORM

How do you build a ladder for a treehouse? One step at a time.

TOM

The hidden parquet floors are being restored.

KEVIN

And, how do you prepare 100-year-old shingles for paint?

MAN

Very carefully.

KEVIN

Each section scraped and sanded. What's next?

MAN

It's time for priming, Kevin.

NORM

That's next time on "This Old House."