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Tiling is a Family Affair | Cape Ann
04/30/20 | 23m 43s | Rating: TV-G
Kevin finds Tom restoring the original pocket doors from the hallway to the living room. Next, Kevin talks to a solar expert installing a small roof panel. Jenn and the landscape crew are leveling the yard with boulders. Richard shows Kevin how the new boiler heats water to just the right temperature. Upstairs, the tilers are working with a unique pattern in the bathroom.
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Tiling is a Family Affair | Cape Ann
Jenn
North Shore boulders go in place today to create a level playing field.
Fred
I love it!
Jenn
Let's get another one.
Tom
Pocket doors have sat inside these walls for 120 years. Today they get restored.
Kevin
And today we'll learn how to lay out mosaic tile. What happened to all this plumbing here?
Richard
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!
Richard
It's five bathrooms. It's a kitchen. It's a full new mechanical. It's gonna be a biggie.
Kevin
Sounds like you guys have a plan.
Jenn
I think we do.
laughs
Tom
The money's in the detail.
Kevin
That is beautiful. Hi, there. I'm Kevin O'Connor and welcome back to "This Old House," here on Cape Ann, Massachusetts, up on the North Shore, and this beautiful lot that we have, just about a mile from the water, nice wooded area with all of this ledge and granite that the original house was built around. That shingle-style right there, originally a summer house built in 1890. Now, the only new space we have, well, it's this garage right here. Two bays, but I gotta say, Charlie and his guys did a nice job of making this fit in with the rest of the house. Lots of progress, so let me show you around. This is a two-bay garage and it's probably the way the homeowners will now enter the house. Hey,
Kevin. Kevin B.
Hi, Kevin.
Kevin
You can see that it is fully insulated. Kevin Bilo and his guys put radiant heat in the concrete slab. Thank you for that. And then you'll enter through here into a new mudroom. Heath,
good morning. Heath
Hi, Kevin.
Kevin
So, over to here, there is a full bath with a shower right in there and this is the new mudroom entry and, as you walk back through here into the heart of the house, you can go to the back. This will be a family room with kitchen off to this side. And then, this opening right here, this was added so that you could see straight through to the front of the house, and check that out. Entryway, the beautiful diamond-leaded glass windows right there, and then, we've got the fireplace. That's gonna be restored and all fixed up. Phil, how are you? John, Tommy, what's goin' on?
Tom
I'm trying to figure out what's goin' on with these pocket doors. You know, they're over 100 years old and pocket doors are really sweet for a --
Kevin
So original, huh?
Tom
Original. See how quiet they are?
Kevin
That is a beauty. Look at the size of that thing!
Tom
Still running good.
Kevin
That is awesome.
Tom
But this one over here, not so good. It actually fell off the wheels right here and we had to pull it out of the opening and I've never actually seen this hardware before. I think what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna open it up above. We've had to strip the plaster off of this wall, here.
Yep. Tom
I'm gonna take off this piece up here on the top, that cap piece, so I can reach down and pull these wheels up, and then, I'm gonna see how they fit on the door. Alright. See if you can lift that out.
Kevin
Oh, what have we got in there?
Tom
Reach down, get the wheel.
Clanking
There it is. Kevin
Oh, cool!
Tom
Look at that. And it looks like some kind of an adjustment right there. And this goes into the door, so we've gotta get that into the door and see how it holds in place.
Kevin
Check this out. "Richards-Wilcox manufacturing from Illinois." Huh! "Patent pending May 24, 1881."
Tom
That's alright. I would say these are definitely original to the house.
Kevin
Still in service, on one side.
Tom
Yep, and here's the other one.
Kevin
Very cool.
Tom
Nice, huh?
Kevin
Yeah. So, this is the top of the door that came off?
Tom
Right. Okay, so, now, this one will go this way and the other one will drop in the other way, but this is interesting. So, if you look at these pins, 'cause of the angle that they're on -- They're on a diagonal. Because they're on a diagonal, it's the adjustment for the height of the door, so you can see how this wheel goes further away from the door when I move it back.
Up or down. Tom
Yep.
Kevin
And then this one here?
Tom
That little opening there is so that you can get to the screw that locks it into place. Now, these screws on both of them have fallen out. I thought, for sure, we'd be able to find them inside the opening. Couldn't do it, so I picked up a couple of screws and I'm gonna have to probably modify this hole just a little bit so I can get the head of the screw to fit in there. See if that head fits in there.
Kevin and Tom
Yep.
Alright. Kevin
Good.
Tom
Pretty good. Gonna get the other one to work. Now, if I tighten this up, does it stay there? Yeah.
Kevin
Holy smokes.
Yep. Kevin
Rock-solid.
Tom
Pretty cool. I love it. Alright. So, now, we have to take the wheels off, put 'em back inside the opening...
Kevin
Oh, so good right there.
laughing
Tom
...and it's gonna be a trick to get these on the door while it's in the hole. Alright. So I gotta get those two pins lined up with the holes.
Kevin
Oh.
Tom
Oh, my gosh. That went right in. Look at that!
Kevin
Come on up. Gimme one more second. Alright. The thread's caught.
Tom
Okay. Just keep goin'.
Kevin
I can go a little tighter to pull this up.
Snug it up. Kevin
Alright. Let's see
if that gets over the -- Tom
Okay.
Let's see how they meet. Kevin
Oh-hoh-hoh-hoh! Look at that!
Tom
Nice and quiet, huh?
Kevin
Boy, that thing slides like it's brand-new!
Tom
Alright. So let's bring 'em together.
Kevin
Holy mackerel.
Tom
That really slides easy. Right in the middle there, we just --
Kevin
Right there.
Perfect. Kevin
Very nice. What do you think, Tommy, get another 120 years out of these?
Tom
Well, 100, anyway.
Both chuckle
Tom
Kevin
Our homeowners have asked for a little bit of solar power on this house, so, up here from the third floor, you can see the roof that we're putting it on. It comes off the second floor. Danny is our installer. Danny, good to meet you.
Daniel
Hey. Nice to meet you, too, Kevin.
Kevin
So I'm told you're giving us a new type of panel, sort of a low-profile panel.
Daniel
Low-profile panel. It's a roof-integrated solar system.
Kevin
So what does that mean?
Daniel
So it's gonna be directly attached to the roof and, when I say roof-integrated, there's not gonna be shingles underneath. The solar panels actually act as the roofing system.
Kevin
Really?! Okay. So I am seeing some shingles, but, these are just gonna be around the perimeter?
Daniel
Yep. Yeah. We'll step flash with the shingles underneath, but other than that, we just have our roofing underlayments directly underneath the panel.
Kevin
So you can sorta see, here, shingles, which we're used to. This is the peel-and-stick layer.
Daniel
Yep. That's exactly right.
Kevin
So, under the panels, we'll have the peel-and-stick and this layer right here?
Daniel
Yep. The fireproofing layer, that's what makes our system Class A fire-rated.
Nice. Daniel
That's what allows it to be so close to the deck.
Kevin
Alright, Heath. You're clipped in.
Alright. Kevin
I appreciate you helpin' out. I know you would've, anyway, but you actually have to do this, right?
Heath
We do. So, yeah, in Massachusetts, we're actually required to have a licensed electrician assist in the installation of solar panels.
Kevin
Danny, you have our best man. Alright. Oh, let me get out of the way. Panel's comin' in.
Daniel
So I'll take one end, if you just wanna keep feeding it.
Heath
Yep.
Kevin
So, first off, you said six panels, Danny?
Daniel
Six panels. That's right.
Kevin
What are we lookin' at here?
Daniel
So we're looking at our 360-watt solar cell. Sixty cells within this solar panel. Like we mentioned earlier, we've got our racking integrated into the panel on all sides. What's really special about this one is how each panel integrates with one another. The next panel will sit on top and engage with this rubber gasket to prevent any wind-driven rain.
Kevin
And these feet right here along the back?
Daniel
So these feet are what attach to the deck itself.
Yeah. Daniel
So we've got 5 feet on each panel. These are adjustable, too, so, if you've got a wavy deck, we can actually adjust these to keep a straight, level plane across the solar panels.
Kevin
And then this guy?
Daniel
Now, this is the brains behind the operation. This is a micro inverter, so this is actually what takes the DC power from the solar panel and converts it to the AC that's usable in the house.
Kevin
So you're gonna take one. You're gonna start down on the far end and work your way back?
Daniel
Work our way back. We've got three panels in one row and then we'll hop up to the second. Each one of our panels has a grounding lug. This grounds the whole system to one another. And this is where all our wires, all our feeders, our AC wires, and our grounding is gonna come through via our junction box. So, next component is our top-flashing support. Each one of my top flashings is gonna cover this whole section.
Kevin
So, what sort of an output are we gonna get from this array?
Daniel
So, from this array, we've got six panels, 2.16 kilowatts on the DC side.
Kevin
Any guess how much of their power load it's gonna handle?
Daniel
On average, for this system size, it's gonna feed about 20% of their usage.
Kevin
Cool. Alright. Well, Danny, thank you very much and, you know, feel free to keep our electrician.
Laughing
Daniel
Jenn
So, the last thing you would think is we needed more boulders on-site, but we do because we needed to create a level playing space for their daughter. Everything was a steep slope before, so these boulders are brought in so we could help retain that slope and it doesn't wash out. So, over here, we have an assortment of boulders. Hey,
Fred. Fred
Hey, Jenn. How you doing?
Jenn
Good. How you doing?
Good to see you. Jenn
So, you wanna tell us why you have 'em all laid out like this?
Fred
Well, when the truck comes, when they dump 'em, they're just in a big pile, so I like to spread 'em out, take like a mental inventory, see what we have, take note of the size, shape, color. So as I'm buildin' the wall, I can remember, "Hey, I saw that rock earlier." Go back, grab it, put it on the wall.
It's like the memory game. Fred
Hopefully, it fits. You have to figure out your space.
It's a form of art. Fred
They don't always fit, but.
Jenn
Yep. That looks pretty good.
Fred
Nice and tight. Now, we're gonna find another rock to fit over these two rocks, one over two, two over one.
Jenn
Love that. Alright. So, we'll fit one that fits like a puzzle piece right in.
Yep. Both
Alright.
Fred
Let's go rock shoppin'. I think I remember seein' a few over here that might work.
Jenn
Ooh, I like this one.
Fred
Let's give it a shot.
Jenn
Even the colors line up!
Fred
I love it!
Jenn
Let's get another one.
Fred
There you go.
Jenn
That's nice and flat.
Fred
That one's nice.
Jenn
This wall's really comin' out great.
Fred
Yeah. It's turnin' out nice.
Jenn
Thanks, guys. Thanks for comin' out in the snow today. And good seeing you, Fred.
Thank you. Jenn
Alright. Thank you.
Kevin
Hey,
Richard. Richard
Hi, Kevin. How are ya?
Kevin
Alright. A lotta progress down here, not just for this job, but going back 120 years.
Richard
Yeah. I mean, there was never an original heating system and they added one for the caretaker 'cause it was just a summer place, but, now, we have a heating system for the next 100 years.
Kevin
A nice one,
too. Richard
Right. Every surface in this building, every horizontal surface, has radiant floor heating in it,
all three floors. Kevin
Awesome.
Richard
And so we've got a command central board here that we've shown before, but, you know, what it has is there's three different floor conditions in this building.
Kevin
It is a work of art.
Richard
Right, it really is. So, right here, this mixing valve is for the tile and the concrete. That needs one water temperature. Then, the more R-value you put on top of the floor, like carpet, this would be the highest water temperature you're gonna need; and then, hardwood floors comes off here.
Yep. Richard
So, the way it works is it's got a mixing valve right here that puts out the right water temperature, a brutally smart pump. This pump is so smart. It sort of figures out what it needs all the time, okay? And changes the flow rate to everything.
Yep. Richard
And then, through these boxes, every single loop... See these manifolds? These are all through the building. There's about eight of 'em through the building....will have a little power head like this. that'll have a thermostat say yes or no to every single room,
so it's -- Kevin
Wow.
Richard
It's absolute precision.
Yep. That's awesome. Richard
Okay? So, now, here's tile. Here's carpet. Here's wood. And we've got two lines that are gonna go over to our indirect tank, but I wanna show you something. Anytime you have a hydronic system -- that means you're heating water -- you have to have stability. You have to have the air eliminated from it, so, this is an air eliminator and it really is amazing inside. Anytime this is pumping through here, any of the oxygen bubbles hit these little spindles and it turns into micro bubbles and comes out through here, so it means all the air comes out this way, so you get hydronic stability. Now, you can start movin' it all over the building and not have an issue.
Kevin
If you didn't have this surface area right here, the air would stay in the water
and could pass right through. Richard
You might have to try and burp it out at different manifolds and you're chasin' it all the time. This thing scrubs it, okay?
Kevin
So this board is for heating, but you said we have indirect for our hot water supply?
Richard
So, right here, these two lines right here come over to an indirect tank. Now, we've used these before, but we've never shown you one naked.
Laughter
Kevin
Oh, well, you know, anytime you can show me something naked...
Richard
So, here is a stainless steel tank and inside it, it has a coil like this and it's much longer, the actual coil inside. So boiler water passes through this coil. It gives up its heat to the stored volume of water here that started cold and become hot.
Never mixes. Richard
No, no.
Kevin
Nope. It just gives up its heat.
Richard
No. And then, when it's done, look at this,
the level of insulation Kevin
Wow. That's like
right here. Kevin
6 inches of insulation.
Richard
Right here and it'll be on every single surface, so it becomes this super insulated Thermos bottle ready to go for plenty of hot water for all those bathrooms in this building.
Kevin
Indirect because the fire is over there and it only comes on when this cools down.
Richard
One flame in this boiler right here.
Yep. Richard
And this is our gas fire-condensing boiler. It's a floor-mounted unit. You know, a lot has changed in these high-efficiency boilers. Let me show ya. So, Kevin, we've talked about this before. You know, the heat loss in any building changes all winter long, according to how cold it is outside versus how warm you want it inside. So, if you have a typical house, like we do, with those three different floor conditions, the tile, the carpet, and the wood, the water wants to circulate and just gently modulate all winter long and just change a little as it gets colder. When we first went into super efficient gas fire-condensing boilers, those boilers were all relatively small and wall-hung. Now, those wall-hung boilers were really efficient, except, the heat delivery system was lookin' for a gentle supply to it and the boilers got so hot, so quick, that they fired up and got quickly hot and then shut off, so they cycled too much. So we really would like to have the burner stay on longer. So the trend has been to go to a larger, water content heating device, so that the burner has a chance to stay on longer, to lower input. You can see that the temperature in the boiler doesn't get super hot. It actually more closely matches what you're lookin' for out of the system,
and that reduces cycling. Kevin
Mm-hmm.
Richard
So, this is what a cutaway is of this larger water content boiler. It helps to understand. You know,
when these -- Kevin
What?!
chuckling
Look at you. Richard
Okay. When these wall-hung boilers first came out, the heat exchanges had relatively small water content. You know, this was one, and this was another, and these would be stacked together and the flame would come through.
Kevin
And that's the full volume of water that you had.
Richard
: Either of those. And so, with this, you can see a burner right here. The burner comes with this beautiful flame that will just modulate and change according to how cold it is outside, but this is how much water content. See it? Water, water, water, water, water everywhere.
Wow. Richard
So, now, that water's gently circulatin', you know, through the -- out through it, so it'll actually take, it'll actually take the burner's input and just stay on and it seems backwards, right? Because you say, "You're gonna leave the burner on?" Yeah. We're gonna leave the burner on, but at the perfectly lowest amount, versus havin' to come on and off.
Kevin
Also counterintuitive that, in this case, bigger
is better than smaller. Richard
That's right. Yeah, but it really is. We wanna reduce cycling 'cause we're inefficient when we're cycling.
Kevin
Right. Beautiful. Love it. Thank you,
Richard. Richard
Isn't that cool?
Kevin
Hey,
Mike. Mike
Hey, Kevin.
Kevin
So, the Ferrante van is out front, which means it is time for tiling. They're workin' up here on the second floor. This is the master bedroom. This is a guest bedroom in here. Mark, how are you?
Mark
Good, Kevin. How you doing?
Kevin
Alright. Big layout table here. And just off of the bedroom is a guest bathroom.
chuckling
Kevin
Erik, how are you?
Erik
Good, Kevin.
Kevin
So this is our little bathroom in here. What are we workin' with?
Erik
Well, today we're working with a marble mosaic.
Kevin
May I see that? Marble. So are both of these light and dark marble?
Erik
Yep. The white is the honed. The gray is the polished.
Kevin
Let me see if I can pick that up in the window reflection. Oh, yeah, so the gray reflects and the white is pretty flat. That's the honed. Alright. And check that out. So this is on a little bit
of a mesh backer. Erik
Exactly.
Kevin
So there's a whole bunch of little pieces?
Erik
Yep, whole bunch of pieces
Nice. Erik
made into one 10x10 square.
Kevin
Cool design with this and that
stickin' out. Alright. Erik
Yep, yep.
Kevin
So, how are you thinkin' about layout? Walk me through that process, please.
Erik
Well, Kevin, when we start a layout, most important thing is, you know, the focal point, big pieces when you come in this door.
Kevin
So this right here, a threshold, this is the first thing
people are gonna see. Erik
Exactly. That's where your eyes are gonna go to, follow along the wall, here.
Kevin
Another important place.
Erik
Yep, and right up to the tub.
Kevin
And then I presume you're less concerned about this side, just with all the other things going on?
Erik
Yeah, a little less concerned. We have the vanity. We have a toilet. It's gonna eat up a little bit of room.
Kevin
Okay.
Erik
But, still, at the same time, you know, we'll be symmetrical, left to right,
front to back. Kevin
Right. And you get that symmetry by picking your center lines, which are already drawn on the floor.
Yep. Kevin
So, with big pieces, your point is you don't want a little sliver of a piece like right there 'cause we'll see it.
Erik
All about that appearance.
Kevin
Alright. So what are you thinkin' for layout?
Erik
Okay, so here we have our crosshairs.
We have our center lines. Kevin
Mm-hmm.
Erik
And we're gonna lay it out a few different ways. Here, we'll start on both sides of the line, again, front to back, left to right.
Kevin
Got it.
Erik
And we'll check to see what the piece is.
Kevin
This is the thing that I think most people don't appreciate of what you guys do, you know? Everyone thinks that you're just cuttin' tile and puttin' it down with your grout lines, with your thin-set. It's a lotta layout.
It's a lot of thinking. Erik
Yeah, a little bit to it. Little bit to it. So, again, back to -- left to right. What we have is that's a big piece.
You like that. Erik
Yes. So, we're starting with a 10-by-10 square, Kevin, so, right there, 8 3/4
piece. Kevin
Nice.
I'll take it. Kevin
Okay. So that's a good line going this way and, if we continue towards the tub...
Erik
Yep. If we go towards the tub...
Kevin
There's another one for ya. Two full pieces. This would be your third full piece. Uh-oh.
Laughs
Erik
Not too crazy about it.
Kevin
So you'll have a little tiny stub. Give me that again. How many inches was that?
Erik
About 2 3/4 inches.
Kevin
So what do you do in that situation, you blow up this layout?
Erik
Well, this is where we'll make an adjustment and see what we end up with. So what I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna move these. I'm gonna split this center line.
Kevin
Okay.
Erik
The front-to-back center line. We're gonna stay where we are left to right.
Kevin
We know this one works,
that way. Erik
We know that one works.
Kevin
I'm just gonna stick this back in there for us. So we basically have adjusted half a tile. Our little 2 3/4-inch stub piece is gonna be what, now, with your tape?
Erik
Lookin' a lot better.
So 8 -- Erik
Almost 8 inches.
Okay. Erik
So, with that 8-inch piece there, up against the tub, we'll have the 8-inch piece in front of the door, exactly what we're lookin' for.
Kevin
Beautiful. Okay. What next?
Erik
So we'll start cuttin' these pieces along the wall. We're gonna -- We'll cut one now, see how it fits, and then, we'll take it from there. Dad, 8 3/4.
Mark
Okay!
Kevin
We'll give that a look, Mark,
chuckle
Kevin
see how you did.
Erik
I think that's the one.
Kevin
Okay!
Erik
Put a couple pieces down. 1/4"x1/4" notch trowel. Little back butter.
Kevin
No spacers for your separation, there? You're just gonna eyeball that?
Erik
Nope. We're gonna do it by eye.
Kevin
So, when you're working with a mosaic tile like this, pretty complicated on the mesh, you know,
more so than a single tile
harder, easier, more time-consuming, or what?
Erik
Definitely time-consuming. Being a mosaic, we have 30-something pieces that make up a 10-by-10, so, compare that to maybe just a regular ceramic.
Kevin
Yeah. Good thing for homeowners to know, too, when they pick a tile like this, it's gonna take --
Erik
Yeah. Gonna take a little bit of time.
Kevin
Yep. You pay for it two ways.
Erik
The biggest thing is just take your time. Have some patience.
Kevin
And then, after this, what do you gotta do, let it set up?
Erik
Yep. We'll let it set up for the day and then we'll come back the following day
and get it grouted. Kevin
Nice. Mark!
Mark
Kevin.
Kevin
Whaddya think? How'd your son do?
Looks great. Kevin
It does, doesn't it?
Mark
Yes,
it does. Kevin
I like the tile. I like the design and you definitely figured out the edges alright. Nice job, guys.
Thanks. Mark
Thank you.
Kevin
Alright. Well, that is it for us. But next time, we are gonna restore the original leaded-glass windows and Jenn is gonna start gettin' plants in the ground. So, until then, I'm Kevin O'Connor.
I'm Mark Ferrante. Erik
I'm Erik Ferrante.
Kevin
For "This Old House" here on Cape Ann. Next time on "This Old House"... The plaster is up and that means we're starting to work on some of the finish details. Painters are here, electrician is doing final, and we've gotta make some design decisions.
Jenn
We're making this bed a colorful transition to the forest.
Tom
Most of the trimwork in the house is installed and a lot of it is new, except for this window right here. When it was demoed, the trim was damaged. Let me show you how we're gonna fix it.
Woman
This is the big moment.
Kevin
That's awesome. So, right back to where it was
120 years ago. Woman
Yep.
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