This Old House

Kevin

Today on "This Old House"...

Cathryn

This piece here comes from Germany. It's over 100 years old.

Kevin

Very nice. And if we -- But it doesn't --

Glass shatters

Laughing

Cathryn

Wow!

Laughs

Cathryn

Wow! Kevin got really mad.

Laughter

Kevin

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 -- It's gonna be a biggie.

Kevin

It sounds like you guys have a plan.

Molly

I think we do.

Laughs

The money's in the detail. Kevin

That is beautiful.

Kevin

Hi, there. I'm Kevin O'Connor. And welcome back to "This Old House" here at Cape Ann, Massachusetts... and our 1890s shingle-style home that is getting a new 750-pound tub going through the second-story window.

Now, over here is gonna be the new side yard for the house. And right up here along this entire length, well, that was the original three-season porch. But you can see all of the glass, the windows and doors have been put in, and it's been enclosed in. And that's because now it's gonna be both a dining room and a breakfast nook.

Now, right here -- Hey, guys. There used to be a garage. That came down. We've got the new front porch, and Mark McCullough's guys had to rebuild this wall right here.

He found some granite on the job site, used that. It's a perfect match. Looks terrific. Although, next to this beauty right here, it looks pretty regular.

Look at this beautiful staircase. So, we've got the big, sweeping sides in granite, and then we've got the steps, both the treads and the riser, in the big, thick bluestone. And what a way to enter this house. Now, a lot of new windows on this house, but there are two places where we have the originals.

One is in the staircase, and the other is right here. Hey,

Cathryn. Cathryn

Hi.

Kevin

So, this is the front corner entryway.

Yep. Kevin

How would you describe these windows?

Cathryn

I would describe them as functional leaded glass windows.

Kevin

Functional because at one point casements had swung out, correct?

Cathryn

Swung out. Yeah, they were functional that way, but they also keep out the snow and the wind and the rain. They do the job of a window.

Not just decorative. Cathryn

Not just a pretty face.

Kevin

And original to the house? Do they go all the way back to the 1890s?

Cathryn

I think so. There's nothing about them that tells me they don't.

Kevin

Beautiful. Okay. So obviously a repair here.

We have a broken piece of glass. Cathryn

Yeah.

Kevin

You'll handle that for us. How are they otherwise? And anything else you want to tune up at this point?

Cathryn

They're great. They're nice and solid. They sound solid.

Kevin

But what does a solid sound mean?

Cathryn

It's not rattling. There's no damage to the lead came. The support bars are intact. The putty hasn't come loose.

Okay. Cathryn

It would be a clear "ding-a-ling-a-ling" if they were rattly.

Kevin

Well, that's good to hear that they don't have that.

Cathryn

Yeah. No,

they're good. Kevin

Anywhere else that we have to worry about?

Cathryn

I'm gonna touch this up. This is a previous repair that was done differently than I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna remove this window so there's no damage to the came. Here the came got pretty chewed up.

I'm gonna --

Kevin

The cane is this piece of lead that goes between panes of glass?

Cathryn

The "came." Yep. Yep. It goes between pieces of glass. I'm gonna try to touch this up, smooth it out so it doesn't alert itself, tell you about itself.

I don't know. Sorry. Kevin

Make it look good.

Cathryn

Yeah. Make it look better.

Kevin

That works. Okay. So, does it start with pulling out this piece here?

Cathryn

Yep. What I'm doing right now is, 'cause these are gonna stay in place, the sashes are gonna stay, but I'm taking out the glazing here. And have a look at this. It's coming out pretty easily.

Old and dry. Cathryn

Old and crunchy, yeah. But it was doing the job, and I'm gonna just continue to do this, then I'll remove the window, and you'll see how I fix it.

Kevin

Can I just say that you folks who repair windows have the coolest tools?

We do. Kevin

Things like this.

Cathryn

My Don Carlos knife, yeah.

Kevin

What's it called?

A Don Carlos. Kevin

Beautiful.

Cathryn

Yeah, they're great, and we use them all the time.

Kevin

Have at it. I won't get in your way.

Cathryn

Thank you so much.

Tools whirring in distance

Cathryn

So, at this point, I've gotten away all the old glazing.

The window is pretty loose. Kevin

Oh, yeah, it is.

Cathryn

Would you go inside and undo that last tie?

And then we're done. Kevin

Okay. That's loose. Oh! Oh, geez.

A little nerve-racking.

That's it. Kevin

Got it?

Cathryn

Yes.

Kevin

Little workstation you've got...

Cathryn

There's the window. Yes.

Kevin

...just

for yourself. Cathryn

There it is. So, now I'm gonna determine the best way to get at this piece of glass, and I think it's gonna be here.

Kevin

And by "best way" to get at it, you mean you're gonna have to cut stuff away?

Cathryn

Yeah. I'm gonna cut this lead. So I'll bend these up a little. I'm gonna break through the lead, and then I'll be able to take this piece out, fashion a new one, and then insert it back in.

Kevin

Let's see you do that.

There it is. Kevin

Oh, wow. Look at that.

Cathryn

Yep.

Kevin

So this was holding those lower panes of glass. That's the heart?

Cathryn

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because there's a channel to the lip,

and the glass inserts in there. Kevin

Yep.

Mm-hmm. Kevin

That is terrific.

Cathryn

So, I'm gonna go after some of the old putty

that's in here. Kevin

With just what, a hook?

Cathryn

Just a hook. Just to get it out.

Kevin

Oh!

So satisfying. Cathryn

It is. And wait till I put it back in. It'll be super satisfying. Now that I've got this out, Kevin, it's my template.

Now it's time to cut the glass, and I like to use this type of glass cutter. It's called a pistol grip. It aids with fatigue. If you're cutting glass all day, it's really nice to have.

Kevin

The little nozzle at the end there. So you got some oil in there?

Cathryn

Yep. There's oil inside. It's self-heating.

Kevin

There's two distinctive and satisfying sounds.

Cathryn

Yes. This piece fit very, very well, so I know it's gonna work. I know I can soon join these two pieces of window together. I'm just gonna clean up these ends so it'll accept the solder.

Kevin

And I see a real delicate touch, too, with that thing.

Cathryn

Have to be. All right. So, Kevin, my task now is to push these together.

Yes. Cathryn

Oh, yes. That'll do. Now I just need to solder it. Nice.

All right. Actually, that's -- that's really good. And now, Kevin, just a little bit of chemical patina so the repair isn't very conspicuous.

Kevin

It's sort of instant aging.

Cathryn

Yeah. Yep. And there you go. Okay.

I have to put the window back in, but real quick, just a little linseed oil just to nourish the wood.

Kevin

So, this is the bead of putty you're going to push the panel into.

Cathryn

That is exactly right.

Kevin

So this is the piece of glass that we put in.

Cathryn

That's our new piece of glass.

Kevin

And you're just filling in the lead came?

Cathryn

I am. Yep. And it's gonna push under the came. And this is what will make the window waterproof, and it also gives it rigidity.

Kevin

And this putty is already dyed black?

Cathryn

Yeah. It's got stove black in it. It's got linseed oil. It's, uh -- Yeah.

It's just what you need. Cathryn

It's just what I need. All right. Looking pretty good.

Kevin

Okay. Moment of truth, Cathryn. I love it.

Cathryn

I know. This is the big moment.

Just get that around. Cathryn

All right. Drop it in there. Push it forward.

Kevin

Cathryn, you are awesome. Thank you so much.

That was fascinating to watch. Cathryn

I'm glad you liked it.

All right. Appreciate it. Cathryn

Thanks.

Jenn

So, the homeowners really wanted a buffer between the woodland area and the driveway. Hey,

Fred. Fred

Morning, Jenn.

Looking good. Fred

Thank you.

Jenn

So, we have this 20-foot swath that travels all the way down the driveway ending with the retaining wall at the bottom, and what we wanted to do is fill the whole area up with plantings. And these plantings are gonna be blooming throughout different times of year. We have three different types of viburnums. This is a Shasta viburnum.

It's gonna be nice. And it'll get about 6 to 8 feet tall and wide, so it's gonna fill up this entire space. It's gonna bloom white in around May, and then it'll have berries for the birds in the late fall. And as it transitions down to this other viburnum, which is called a Juddi viburnum -- and, again, flowers white in the spring, different kind of berries.

It's gonna get about 4 to 5 feet tall and wide. Then we transition to Endless Summer hydrangeas, summer bloomer. The homeowner really wanted to have the round, mophead-type flowers, like, the ball-shaped flowers. This one's gonna be about 4 feet tall, 4 feet wide.

Over here, I like to repeat the plants so it has some flow to it and it connects both sides. These are rosebud azaleas. They're more of a dwarf, semi-evergreen azalea. They're gonna bloom pink.

The homeowner really loved the idea of having swaths of pink in the yard. And they're gonna be a spring bloomer and hopefully all grow together as a mound so it looks like one piece. Okay. So, over here, we have a third viburnum.

This is called a viburnum opulus, and it's going to get about 3 feet tall. It has a really nice rounded flower head, kind of similar to what the blue hydrangea, the Endless Summer, is gonna look like. And it's only gonna get 3 feet tall, 3 feet wide, fill in this whole area, bloom white in the spring, so this is gonna be a show of color in the spring, pinks and whites primarily. And, then, continuing down here, here we get to the retaining wall.

So, the homeowners are thinking about doing a stone veneer to cover this area. Another consideration was putting in plants at the front edge of the wall, but that would take a good 3, 4 years for those plants to get established to grow over the wall, so I think a stone veneer might be the best option, but we'll see. Okay. In this middle section, it's primarily evergreen.

Starting in this front row, we have a broadleaf evergreen. It's a low-growing rhododendron. It's called rhododendron Chionoides, and it's gonna flower white in the early spring. And then -- So, that's a broadleaf evergreen transitioning up to -- This is an andromeda.

It has this beautiful flower in, actually, in the springtime in, I would say, late April, early May, but then the flower heads stay on and have this beautiful red color. So it really adds character and interest to the area. Another -- It's a broadleaf evergreen, so these two plants are gonna keep their leaves all season long. The back is going to have -- We have five fernspray cypress.

These will get about 25 feet tall and just really create this beautiful bright-green backdrop for all these beautiful plantings. So none of these are gonna lose their leaves. And I'm gonna go help Fred get started planting this tree over here.

Kevin

Well, the plaster has gone up, which means we're starting about the finished details. We've got the painters here, electricians, and also some decisions to make about final design. So, Molly, our homeowner, and Shelby, our designer -- that's your guys' job. What's the approach?

What are you going for?

Shelby

Yeah, so, Molly has a classic base, and we're trying to make it a little more modern.

All right. Molly

Pull me out a little bit.

A little fun. Kevin

Clean it up a little bit, make it a little less fussy?

Molly

Exactly. That way, the family needs to be less fussy.

Kevin

Okay. So, foyer. First place to start.

Exactly. Kevin

Big space.

Shelby

So, it really sets the tone for the entire house. So we want something that's a little bold, a little fun, which would be -- Either one of these options could kind of fit the bill for that.

Kevin

Wallpaper, we're talking.

Shelby

Wallpaper, we're talking.

Kevin

Are you leaning towards one over the other?

Molly

Yeah, so, I definitely am leaning towards this one right here. I like the depth. I like the colors, and I like the texture that you can see and feel in this sample.

Okay. Good. Shelby

And this one might be a little too zebra-esque for Molly.

Kevin

I was gonna say that.

Laughter

Kevin

So, we've got a fireplace here -- original. A new firebox, however, and obviously a new surround going in. Shelby, you were kind enough to give us two options to think about. Describe them to us.

Shelby

Yeah, so, on the right-hand side is a little more of a traditional take on a mantel. We have pilasters that are anchoring either side...

Mm-hmm. Shelby

...with a nice mantel detail overhanging the tongue.

Kevin

Got you. And on the left-hand side, you mix it up.

Shelby

On the left-hand side -- So, it's a little more of a modern take on a traditional mantel. So we've got kind of a traditional top, and then we kind of step down into more of a modern.

Kevin

Now, Molly, as you look at the two, preference?

Molly

I definitely have a preference, however it's a combination of the two.

Of course it is. Molly

Of course it is. Never easy, is it? So I definitely like the square.

Over the pilaster. Molly

Yeah, over the pilaster.

I'm not a big pilaster fan. Kevin

Yep.

Molly

But I definitely like the top over here.

Right. Molly

The mantel. Yeah. So, this is where I really look to Shelby because sometimes I'm like, "Am I being too square?" You know, do I need to bring in...?

Kevin

But you guys can do this, right? I mean, you can mix and match and help us get through that.

Shelby

Exactly. So, we'll show her some options on how we could blend the two and then see what works best.

Thank you. Kevin

Perfect. Okay. Let's go to the dining room. This dining room is gonna be awesome.

Used to be a three-season porch with screens and sliders here. That beautiful green carpet gone. Walls of windows now. Love them.

Tons of light. The arches.

This is phenomenal. Molly

We love this room. We love the light. We love everybody about it.

Kevin

Cool. So what do we have to decide on in here?

Shelby

So, we've already selected this wallpaper here, which is a beautiful grass cloth, so that lends itself to a coastal home

without being too nautical. Kevin

More wallpaper.

So that's -- Exactly. Molly

Exactly.

Shelby

So that's gonna go floor to ceiling in here.

Kevin

Nice. Okay.

Shelby

And then we have some options for drapery.

Kevin

Mm-hmm.

Shelby

The top one has more of the greeny grays, which pulls in the colors from the butler's pantry in the kitchen. The bottom one is a little more of a singular color.

Molly

I can tell you right now this is my favorite. I like all the different tones in here and how it brings in the kitchen.

Kevin

All right. It'll be a great way to frame

those beautiful windows. Molly

Exactly.

Kevin

The other big detail in here is this tray ceiling, and it was sort of a necessity 'cause we've got bathrooms. We got master bath here, guest bath in there. Charlie had to hide some of the waste lines, traps. So drop the ceiling here, but you frame out which space -- You're gonna be the dining-room table here.

Shelby

Exactly. So we had to get a little creative with what we were doing with the ceiling. So, right now we have a nice focal point in the center, so we're gonna do a Venetian plaster.

Kevin

Oh. So just in the recess here?

Shelby

Just in the recess. So that'll make it a bit more special.

Kevin

So, we don't see Venetian plaster a lot. Walk us through, you know, what exactly it is.

Shelby

Right. So, the product is imported directly from Italy. And they mix the color into the product. And they trowel it on, and you have these beautiful trowel marks that create some nice depth.

Kevin

They leave these behind by design.

Shelby

Exactly. Yes. And it provides a nice beautiful sheen. It's pretty hard.

Kevin

And you've got four samples here in terms of colors?

Molly

We do. And here's our drapery fabric.

Okay. Shelby

So, the blue -- You know, very nice little sky blue,

maybe a little too sky-like. Molly

A little too Vegas.

Kevin

Vegas. There you go. This is kind of a pinkish.

Shelby

So, this is introducing a new color.

Molly

Which -- I love this color, however I feel like it needs a little more pop,

a little more oomph. Kevin

Okay. Now, you've got striations on this one.

Shelby

Yeah, while the striations are beautiful, it's a little too similar to the wallpaper.

Kevin

Okay, leaving us with maybe -- Well, I don't know. That color okay for you?

Molly

This one's a little too bold, and this one's... We're thinking we'll end up somewhere in between the two. We're gonna try out a couple more samples.

Kevin

Okay. Good. I don't know much about Venetian plaster, but the one thing I do know is that you need "a guy." You need someone who does it. You got a guy?

Shelby

I got a guy -- Maurizio.

Kevin

Sounds like the right guy.

It does. Kevin

Cool. All right. Love the decisions. Thanks for the help.

Thank you. Molly

Thank you.

Tom

Most of the trimwork in the house is installed, and a lot of it is new, except for this window right here. The homeowner wanted to keep the old window with the old casing. The problem is, when it was demoed, the trim was damaged. Let me show you how we're gonna fix it.

All right. So, this is what we're dealing with. We have two pieces here that have been glued together to make one for one half, and this is the other side right here. And you can see this was busted pretty good when it was taken off.

So what we need to do is glue this back together and fit it back to the window. So, Mattie made a form, or a template, right here to fit this piece in, and that way we put it under compression with these wedges. So, we put it together and hold it while the glue dries. We can take this out?

Mattie

It's all ready, Tom.

Tom

All right. Let's pull it out of there. It's in there pretty good. It comes right out.

There it is. All right. So there's one half. We have a little more sanding to do on that.

And this piece here in three pieces -- we'll put this right in here. Try it first before we put some glue on there. Yeah, we got a little bit of sanding to do right there on that one, and we can get it in. So let's sand that right there and then try it out.

All right. Let's see if that's enough off of that. Yeah, that fits good. Now we'll try that third piece.

Yeah, that should be good. Let's take it out, and we'll get some glue on it. All right. We're ready, right?

Mattie

Yes, sir.

Tom

...that in there. Get a couple of wizards on this. Okay, while that head casing is drying, we're ready to install the two side casings. We couldn't salvage those because they were really broken when they demoed the window.

But we were able to salvage some of the old trim from downstairs that matches the profile. So on this side, the casing is gonna be perfect. All right? We just got to cut the height, nail it in place.

But on this side, you can see the casing fits, but if you look, it's way too wide. So we have to cut this side of the casing to follow the contour of the wall also, so we're gonna scribe it in place. I'm gonna put a reference mark here on the windowsill and another one right here on the edge of the window stop. Then I'll take it away.

Okay, so, now what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna check the dimension from this line that I marked on the stool right here to the edge of the window frame and hold my scribes against that. Open them up a little. Hold my scribes against it and bring the scribe to the pencil mark right there. So now I take my scribes up here, hold it against the jamb of the window, and see if my line lines up.

If I look close, it doesn't. It's off just a little bit, so I'm gonna make my scribes a little bit wider so it lines up with this mark at the top. Right there. And now I'm gonna take that mark and transfer it down here.

All right. With my two marks -- one on the stool and then one up top -- I put the side of the casing on each mark. My scribe is set to that dimension. So now I just take my scribes without moving them, put them tight against the wall on this side, bring them in, and put a mark following the wall.

Mattie's gonna the casing over to the table saw, cut it on an angle to the widest point of the casing, bring it back to me, and I'll fine-tune it with my block plane. All right. Let's see how that fits. Got the bevel on there.

Good. Nice. You left a little bit of the line on there. Now it fits pretty good there.

That's good. That's away just a little bit there, so I'm gonna fine-tune this edge right here with my block plane so we can get it tight against the wall. I don't need to take very much off. All right.

Let's try it. Oh, yeah. Perfect. All right.

All we got to do is cut the length, and we can tack it in place.

Tack gun firing

Kevin

Hey, Mattie,

Tommy. Tom

Hey, Kevin. How are you?

Kevin

Let's see how it went, huh? Look at that beauty. That is gonna be a real nice complement to those leaded glass windows right in front of the house.

Tom

Right. We saved this top casing here, this round one, glued it all back together. It was a lot of pieces. We used some of the casing from downstairs.

Nice. Mattie

So worth it. It's a beautiful window. I'm glad we did it.

Kevin

Cool. All right. Well, next time, we're gonna spend some time saving this original handrail and some of the original plaster that's still left in this house. So, until then, I'm Kevin O'Connor...

I'm Mattie Ford. Tom

I'm Tom Silva.

Kevin

...for "This Old House" here on Cape Ann. Did he give you any trouble, Mattie?

Hey. Mattie

Just a little.

I might use you next time. Kevin

There you go. You'll get things done quickly. Maybe not well but quick and fast.

Kevin

Next time on "This Old House"...

Norm

This small piece of wood is the key to saving these 130-year-old balusters.

Richard

I'll tell you how this wrench revolutionized the plumbing industry.

Man

This is sort of the foundation of modernity, you know? You can't be modern if you don't have running water because it keeps us safe and it keeps us healthy.

Kevin

You are gonna help us do Venetian plaster.

Yep... Kevin

What is it?