This Old House

KEVIN

Today on "This Old House"...

NORM

I need to 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?

MAURO

Very carefully.

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

Last time we were here in the backyard, we built the frame for our treehouse. Hey, Norm. How you doing?

NORM

Hey, Kevin.

KEVIN

Can I borrow your ladder?

laughs

KEVIN

And, today, Tommy and Katherine are laying down the decking. Hey,

guys. -KATHERINE

Hey.

TOM

Hey,

Kevin. -KEVIN

So, what's the plan?

TOM

Well, the plan is to lay the decking down. We're gonna scribe it to the tree, leaving space for the tree to grow.

KEVIN

I was actually asking Katherine, Tommy. What's your plan? Are you gonna throw in?

KATHERINE

Apparently, I'm going to be sawing the boards.

KEVIN

Nice. And nailing them down, too, I hope. All right, I'll leave you guys to it.

All right. -KATHERINE

Thanks.

KEVIN

So, Norm, you're throwing in with us, huh?

That's right. -KEVIN

Master carpenter, working on a treehouse. Maybe some overkill?

NORM

No. The kids got to get up there, so we need a ladder.

KEVIN

Oh,

nice. All right. -NORM

So I'll build a ladder.

KEVIN

What's your plan?

NORM

Well, I'm gonna use these 2x6s and I've calculated the height and roughly how far apart the treads are gonna be. I'll rout out a slot for each tread, little bit of glue, and some screws, and that'll hold it all together.

KEVIN

You're the man for the job.

NORM

Right. So what are you gonna do?

KEVIN

I'm gonna finish off the railing, so, upright post, top rail, bottom rail, I'm gonna balance this.

Catch up with you later. -KEVIN

All right.

Perfect. -KATHERINE

All right!

TOM

All right,

our first cut. -KATHERINE

One cut down.

TOM

All right, so, there's one rough cut, but now we're gonna make it even rougher, so what I'm gonna do now is I'm gonna scribe that board to the tree. I'm just gonna take my scribes and randomly set them apart. Now, the key, when I scribe across the tree, I want to make sure that I hold my scribes parallel

with the boards' joint. -KATHERINE

Why is that?

TOM

Well, because, if I go like this,

I'm not gonna get a true cut. -KATHERINE

I see.

TOM

So, I'm gonna go like this, hold it in, keeping it parallel with the edge, come out, come around, go down, and around.

KATHERINE

Okay. But you're not going to be able to cut

that profile with this saw. -TOM

No. We're gonna use this saw right here, a jigsaw, all right? And you're gonna cut also with that. Turn the saw on by pushing that button. You're gonna just follow the line, and, again,

we don't have to be too fussy. -KATHERINE

Okay.

TOM

There you go. Now go the other -- Look at that. Keep going. All right, look at that. Your first crooked cut.

laughs

KATHERINE

Looks pretty good to me.

TOM

Yeah. Let's see how it fits. Oh,

look at that. Perfect. -KATHERINE

Looks pretty good.

TOM

So, now, what we need to do is pull it back, create a space for the tree to grow.

Awesome

-TOM: All right,

let's cut another one. -KATHERINE

Great.

KEVIN

These posts are gonna do most of the work for our railing system, so they got to be pretty beefy. We've got to notch out a corner, so we get a good connection to the deck, and we're just gonna leave the bark on.

NORM

Well, these two 12-foot 2x6s are gonna be the stringers for the ladder and they're gonna set at a 20 angle and meet the platform at the top and, at the bottom, they're gonna sit on a piece of stone. So, the first thing I want to do is make a 20 cut on the bottom. Okay. Now, what I want to do is make a mark for the top of the first tread. So, I'm gonna hold my tape perpendicular to the cut I just made and I'm gonna mark just above 9.75. Right there. And draw a line, again, at 20. All right, so, that's the line for the top of the first tread. Now, what I did to make the rabbetting a little bit easier is I made this jig. You can see there's two holes cut at the 20 angle. And what I want to do is I want to set the top edge right where my line is and clamp it in place. Now I'm gonna use a router to make the rabbets. So, I have a collar, and I have a 1-inch-diameter router bit and I'm gonna use that to make the rabbet.

Powerdown

NORM

Now, the reason that I made two pockets in this jig is so that I can use it also to index the location of all the treads. So now all I have to do is move it up to this position, make sure that's clear, take this little block, which is actually three pieces. One fits in the dado, one fits in the pocket for the router, and the other one just sits on the top. And as soon as I put that in place, this is not gonna move, so I can just start routing again, once I clamp it.

TOM

All right, we've gone as far as we can with the deck. I don't want to put the outside boards on until all the railing posts get put in. Now, you've noticed that we haven't cut the length

and they're pretty uneven. -KATHERINE

Yep.

TOM

But what we're gonna do is we're actually gonna cut the length a little bit shorter and we're actually gonna cut a rustic edge,

so it goes with the deck. -KATHERINE

Oh, neat. All right. Great, well, let me go help Kevin.

TOM

All right. Thanks for your help.

KEVIN

Hey, Mauro.

MAURO

Hey, Kevin.

KEVIN

Looks like you got some good prep work going on, which, you always tell us, is the most important job, when it comes to painting a house. And, boy, you got some old shingles to work with here. I mean, these things are over 100 years old, right?

MAURO

I would say 120 years old, Kevin.

KEVIN

So how are you gonna deal with that?

MAURO

Tough to work with, but I do have to take an extra care. Always in favor of the grain of the wood.

KEVIN

So, going down with the grain.

MAURO

Going down with the grain, always.

KEVIN

And I guess you got to work with them gently 'cause we don't want these things pulling out.

MAURO

Exactly. Sometimes a couple of the shingles will just fall down, so.

KEVIN

How much of the paint are you actually trying to take off? I mean, is it just the loose stuff, or are you trying to go down to bare wood?

MAURO

Kevin, we're not cutting down to bare wood. All we're gonna take off is all the paint, the loose paint and the peeled paint.

KEVIN

All right, so, some preparation there and, obviously, old paint, so we're gonna protect ourselves here. You got the suits on. We got the tarps down.

MAURO

You got to follow up with the regulations.

This is what we're doing here. -KEVIN

All right, so, I guess I should suit up, get a respirator, and I'll give you a hand?

MAURO

That's a good idea.

All right. -MAURO

All right. Now that this section is scraped down, it's time to feather down the edges.

KEVIN

Feather the edges? Okay. So, you want to go a little further?

MAURO

We're going to go across the way, just like we said, and scrape and remove all the leftover from the edges.

KEVIN

So we're going from the scrapers to the sander?

MAURO

Exactly. We're gonna use an 80-grit sander.

KEVIN

So, 80-grit paper. It's kind of a medium coarseness.

MAURO

Exactly, medium-coarse paper.

Nice vacuum. -MAURO

Nice vacuum.

Hooked up to my hypervac. -KEVIN

Awesome. Okay, Mauro,

this section

scraped and sanded. What's next?

MAURO

It's time for priming, Kevin.

KEVIN

All right. So, we can finish up with this and move on to the next one?

MAURO

Let's do it.

KEVIN

Tommy, Mauro tells me that, with all the prep work he's doing, those old shingles should paint up pretty nice, but you know what? Nothing's gonna paint up as nice as these brand-new claps.

TOM

Oh, I love the look of a fresh paint job on a new clapboard, but he does have his work cut out

on the rest of this siding. -KEVIN

A lot of work out there. Although the Victorian colors are really nice.

TOM

I love the color scheme. It's nice.

KEVIN

So, storm window going in, which wouldn't normally surprise me, given the fact that all the other windows are old, but isn't this a brand-new window right here?

TOM

Right. This is a new insulated window that tilts in for cleaning. It's a clad window, so you never have to paint the outside. Very efficient. But remember, the rest of the windows are single-glaze. They're gonna be weatherstripped, so they'll be tighter than they were, but they're not gonna be as efficient as an insulated window. So, to increase the efficiency of that, we're going to add storm windows to the entire house. Murat and Katherine want the same look over the new windows. So, we're going to install storms on top of that. What that'll do is really increase the efficiency

of this window. -KEVIN

Good. Okay. So, we got ourselves a little aluminum frame, triple track?

TOM

Triple track, all built in one. So, the first thing I need to do is caulk around both sides and across the top.

KEVIN

So, along the sides and the top, but not the bottom, why?

TOM

Well, if the screen is open and it's raining out, the rain could get into the screen and, at the bottom of the window, it'll actually create a dam and the water won't run out.

KEVIN

So we want a little outlet down there.

Exactly. -KEVIN

Right.

TOM

Okay, so now we just take the window, center it in the opening, and then just push it up to the underside of the casing.

Got it. -TOM

All right. I'll put a screw in it.

KEVIN

I'm almost flush to this lip. How about you?

TOM

Yep. Should be flush.

KEVIN

All right, Tommy, that is looking pretty good and I know we got a lot more window work going on today, so I'm going to check out those.

Okay. Sounds good. -KEVIN

Thanks. This house originally had 40 window openings. The windows were original, making them 120 years old. We've been following the saga of their reconditioning ever since they got started and, Dave Greenwood, you are the guy who's led us on this saga. Time to install them. This is a big day.

DAVE

Yeah, it's time to put the windows back and what we're gonna do is we're gonna install them in the frames. They're all prepped, ready to go. We have bronze cushioning on each side and that makes the window a little bit tighter. And we have the windows here. We have the weatherstripping on the windows and we're ready to install them.

KEVIN

All right. So, that thing looks absolutely gorgeous.

DAVE

Yeah,

they came out nice. -KEVIN

We got new sash ropes

already in the pockets. -DAVE

All new sash ropes. And then, what we're gonna do is we're just gonna shoot in the sash ropes in the side here.

KEVIN

That a stapler there?

DAVE

With a staple, so they don't come loose down the road. And do the same thing here.

KEVIN

So, just a couple staples for each one?

DAVE

Yeah, we put like one or two staples in there to hold it in place.

KEVIN

Look at that.

DAVE

And then it's ready to be installed. So, what we do is we put it in the bottom, hit the ropes, go up there slowly, pull these down, keep them down like that. This window should slide up there nice.

Whoa. -DAVE

Weatherstripping's touching and now we're ready to put in the parting bead.

KEVIN

That is not gonna rattle at all, is it?

DAVE

Shouldn't. And the parting bead separates the two sashes, so they don't hit each other.

KEVIN

And you got rid of all the old ones, right, so this is new material?

DAVE

All the old parting bead was junk. Either cracked and split.

KEVIN

And what's this material?

DAVE

This is all mahogany.

KEVIN

Nice. There you go. A little higher. Just a couple of finish nails to hold it in place.

DAVE

Holds it right in place.

KEVIN

All right. Lower sash. Same process, right, hook 'em to the ropes?

DAVE

Same exact process. Nothin' changes.

KEVIN

All right, it's nice and smooth. Nice and tight in the opening, too, right?

DAVE

Yeah, it slides perfect. Now, the biggest thing is that the beading rails line up perfect, so when we put the lock on, they both meet.

KEVIN

Great. All right, let's get those stops in.

DAVE

The stops are very important because, you know, if you put it too tight, then the window's not gonna go up and down; it's gonna stick. If you put it too far out, you're gonna have too much of a wiggle and air's gonna get in there, so you got to be pretty much precise where you want to be.

KEVIN

So you got it just at the right spot. And then what are you gonna do, screw it in or tack it in?

DAVE

No, I'm gonna tack it in. I'll tack the two sides and we'll screw it in after.

KEVIN

All right, what do you got for hardware?

DAVE

These are reproduction hardware. They're brass hardware, very ornate.

KEVIN

Solid brass made to look old.

DAVE

Solid brass made to look old.

KEVIN

All right. You like?

DAVE

Done!

KEVIN

Awesome. All right, one beautifully reconditioned window installed,

39 to go. -DAVE

It's not a problem.

These come out beautiful. -KEVIN

They sure did. It's gonna make a huge difference on this house.

It's going to. -KEVIN

All right, thanks, Dave.

DAVE

Bye-bye.

KEVIN

Hey,

Tommy. -TOM

Hey, Kevin.

KEVIN

I just saw the new windows come back -- actually the old windows, reconditioned. Oh, man,

they look fantastic. -TOM

Do they? Oh,

I'm excited to see those. -KEVIN

The homeowners

are gonna be more excited. -TOM

Right.

KEVIN

Speaking of beautiful, what have you got going here? Wow!

TOM

Well, this is actually a trellis and I'm just finishing up right now. I'm just trying to ease over this edge

to dress it up a little bit. -KEVIN

You make this?

TOM

I did. It's actually gonna sit on this wall right here. Now, this wall, actually, you see it faces the street.

KEVIN

So, back side of the mudroom. We can't really put anything on it, right? We got a crawl space down here. We got the bathroom right there.

TOM

It's gonna dress it up nice, but what I really like about it, once the plant grows around it, you'll never have to worry about it rotting. I made it out of solid PVC.

KEVIN

Oh, nice. All right. So, ready to go in or you still have some more to do?

TOM

I just want to finish up easing this edge and drill a couple more holes.

KEVIN

All right, you finish that. I'll give you a hand

putting it in. -TOM

Okay. Go that way. All right. Bring it right in there. Now, I got a couple of marks on our height and our location here. Okay, there's one.

KEVIN

Okay.

TOM

All right, so, there you go. Now, Mauro can clean that up and get it painted and I think it's gonna look pretty nice.

KEVIN

You know what? Already looks pretty nice, Tom.

That thing is sweet. -TOM

Yeah.

KEVIN

All right, so, where are we going from here?

TOM

Well, we have some more finishing touches

in the front hall. -KEVIN

Let's get to it. Ooh, Tommy, finished details outside and inside as well.

TOM

Oh, yeah. Well, the homeowners and the architect definitely wanted to make a statement when you walked in that front door.

KEVIN

So, we've got some wainscoting going up in the entryway. We didn't have any wainscoting in this house, did we?

TOM

We didn't have any wainscoting.

KEVIN

So, where does the inspiration come from, for what we're putting up?

TOM

Well, the inspiration actually comes from this door right here, if you look at the panel on the door

and the molding around it. -KEVIN

Oh, nice. Yeah.

TOM

So we actually picked up that design and this molding right here is part of the molding that went in here. This is one of the small base moldings that we'll use upstairs, but it's also done around that door.

KEVIN

So that's where you get the profile. I'm seeing equal squares here. On the wall, I'm seeing sort of a rectangle/square mix. Is that your design, the architect's? Who came up with that?

TOM

Well, the architect came up with the design and I had to modify it just a little bit.

KEVIN

How so?

TOM

Well, the reason I wanted to modify is I didn't want it to stick out beyond the wall as far as the architect had designed. He had 3/4" thick panel first, and then 3/4" styles and rails.

KEVIN

Yeah?

TOM

All right, if I had done that, that means that the whole wall would've been out about another 1/2". So, if I had done it that way, see how far out that baseboard would've stuck? I don't want that.

KEVIN

No, I mean, we've got existing baseboard, which leads right into the skirtboard.

We've also got existing casings. -TOM

Right, and I didn't want

to do all that work. -KEVIN

Okay. So we can easily modify the styles and rails and the panel, Just go from 3/4 stock down to 1/2" MDF.

TOM

Right. So, let me show you. If I use 3/4" styles and rails and the molding that's 3/4", see how the profile is? It's nice. That's the way it should be.

KEVIN

But when we shrink this down...

TOM

When you shrink it down and you take 1/2", you put the 3/4" molding up to it, it's too proud, so I had to modify the molding also.

KEVIN

So, how do you modify the thickness of the molding?

TOM

Well, it's real easy. First of all, you have to remember that I had a knife made to duplicate this molding. Now, all I do is cut the molding on my machine a little different. All right, let me show you the knives that I had made to match our old moldings exactly, both the large base molding and our panel molding, okay? Now, when I run these moldings through the machine, I actually have to make a guide or a sled for the pieces of wood to run through

and get under the knife exactly. -KEVIN

Right.

TOM

Now, the problem is is this one sits fine and this one, if I cut it, it's gonna end up with a piece that is too thin, like that.

KEVIN

But you want it thin, though, right? I mean, you're trying to take a little bit

of that thickness out of there. -TOM

But look what happens. I actually lose some of the profile right here on the top end because I have to cut so deep.

KEVIN

Right. So this little edge right here is already thin. When you make everything thinner, it just goes away.

TOM

It goes away. So what I have to do is I just want to take more out of the front edge, leaving the profile the same.

KEVIN

Basically just kind of cutting it on a bevel.

TOM

Right. To do that, I cut this piece right here. This is actually a wedge and I insert this right on the flat surface, tipping the molding, so, when it cuts, I end up with the profile to match,

but it's thinner. -KEVIN

Oh, wow. Very clever. And that's gonna work, huh?

TOM

It sure is.

KEVIN

All right. So, are you ready to run that?

TOM

I sure am. Just put the cover on and we'll get it run. All right, let's put our frames together.

KEVIN

Wow. Tommy, that is great.

It looks terrific. -TOM

Yeah, it looks good. All right, we have one more thing to do in the entryway. All right, now, remember, we took down this wall right here and a wall with a door in it that had an airlock when you entered into the house, so, what we have to do is finish off patching in this parquet floor. We've peeled this back and made the two level, so we can now make up some more squares and continue to patch. All right, now, remember, upstairs, when we tore up that wood floor, I said save it, we may need it?

This is some of it right here. -KEVIN

Nice.

TOM

First thing I want to do is I want to rip and clean up one edge because this is what we're gonna make our parquet squares out of. Once I clean up that edge, I'll spin it around and clean up the other edge and cut it to size. All right, we've cut our pieces to width and length. Now what we're gonna do is make up each panel. Just lay it in this little jig like that. Push them all tight together. I'm not gonna glue them together. I'm actually gonna tape them together, so it'll be like a little mat. Boy, I can't imagine doing a big room like this, but for a small patch, I think this is just fine.

KEVIN

Labor-intensive, right?

TOM

Yeah, very.

Okay. -KEVIN

All right, Tommy, we are not gonna get full ones in here.

No. -KEVIN

What are you gonna do?

TOM

Next thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna cut them on the diagonal... And fit the pieces in. Once we get those pieces fit, we'll actually take a straight strip and run right across here for the transition between the two.

KEVIN

Nice.

TOM

All right, there you go.

KEVIN

That's a good-looking patch right there, Tommy.

TOM

Yeah, once that glue dries, it gets sanded, it's gonna look like it was always there.

KEVIN

All right. So, what do you got coming up for next week?

TOM

We're gonna install the kitchen cabinets.

KEVIN

Nice. And we're gonna reveal that treehouse to the kids, for the first time.

Great. -KEVIN

So, until then,

I'm Kevin O'Connor. -TOM

And I'm Tom Silva.

KEVIN

For "This Old House." All right, hey, how'd you manage to get glue on my shoulder?

TOM

Oh, I don't know what to tell you. It's your shirt.

KEVIN

Next time on "This Old House"...

KATHERINE

Wow, Roger, this is absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much.

NORM

We'll see the progress on our project house.

KEVIN

And some old bathroom fixtures become new again.

TOM

And it's cabinet time in the kitchen.

KEVIN

And check this out. You drag a hose out here and screw it into this fixture. On a hot summer day, turn this lever, and you got yourself your own little water park, huh?

KATHERINE

That is fantastic. What a great idea.

NORM

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