This Old House
S35:E18 - Arlington Italianate: Old World, New World
T35:C01 - S35:E01 - Jersey Shore: After the Storm
In October of 2012, Superstorm Sandy tore through the most populated region of the United States, leaving millions without power and hundreds of thousands of homes in ruins. Some of the worst damage was sustained on the Jersey Shore, so Kevin, Norm and Richard break with This Old House tradition to introduce not one, but three different homeowners who, despite financial hardship, miles of red tape, and lots of unanswered questions, are determined to rebuild. In the barrier island town of Bay Head, Norm meets Jed and Chris Laird, whose 1880's shore cottage had to be gutted after it was flooded under three feet of seawater. Nearby on the mainland in Point Pleasant, Carlos and Maria Santos' family of six was left homeless by the storm; Kevin learns how they plan to raise their 1950's Colonial ten feet in the air to protect it from future floods. And in Manasquan, Rita Gurry tells Richard the heartbreaking story of how, after she'd just made her last mortgage payment, she took one look at the mold Sandy left inside her flooded 1940 Cape and decided to tear it down and start fresh with a new modular home. Over eight special episodes, This Old House follows these intrepid homeowners on the path to recovery‚ learning lessons along the way about both the pitfalls and the best practices of coastal building in a post-Sandy world.
T35:C02 - S35:E02 - Jersey Shore: Drastic Measures
Back on the Jersey Shore, Norm meets Bay Head homeowner Thacher Brown as he leads a group of determined beachfront homeowners to pool their own resources to build a stone and sand revetment. Norm meets GC Kevin D'Anunciaçao to see how he's prepped the Bay Head house for the first of two lifts. The house-lifting contractors, led by Mitch Wilbanks, set the cribbing and thread the steel beams through the windows. They're lifting the house only four feet this time, and from the second floor structure. At the Point Pleasant project, Kevin finds homeowner Carlos Santos mired in some scheduling setbacks: the lifting crew has finally arrived but is only getting the cribbing and steel installed in the crawlspace. Richard meets up with Rita Gurry to say a last tearful goodbye to her little mold-ridden Cape as the demolition crew moves in, tears it down, and carts the debris away. Norm meets structural engineer Patrick Cronin, who explains a FEMA A zone versus a V zone, what types of foundations and pilings are required for each, and why. We see how a house properly engineered can (and did) withstand a Superstorm like Sandy.
T35:C03 - S35:E03 - Jersey Shore: Getting to Work
Kevin meets Special Counsel Chris Nelson on the bridge in Mantoloking, New Jersey, to hear the story of the storm that took out 200 of the 528 houses in their town, and they head out in a beach rescue vehicle to see the scale of the job ahead. Now that the Bay Head project house has been lifted 4 feet for repairs, builder Kevin D'Anuncia shows Norm the progress on the framing, how they worked around the cribbing, and the improvements they're making to the spaces on the second floor. The Point Pleasant house is finally up on cribbing, and Gary Seider shows Kevin how they'll pin it to the ground using steel helical pull-down micro-piles that screw into the soil while pulling a grout-filled sleeve with them for lateral support. Richard hears from modular home builder Anthony Zarrilli that traditional wooden piles are the cost-effective way to go for new construction; they drive the piles to the required elevation, then cut them to receive the bandboard that will support the house. Norm takes Richard to see a welcome sign of life in Bay Head Mueller's Bakery‚ a Shore fixture for 100 years that is just now opening after 7 months of rebuilding from Sandy damage.
T35:C04 - S35:E04 - Jersey Shore: Built for Speed
An icon of the Jersey Shore's beach culture, Seaside Heights is working hard to pull its Sandy-battered boardwalk up by the bootstraps by Memorial Day weekend, submerged rollercoaster and all. Kevin meets Mayor William Akers and Lou Cirigliano from Casino Pier, which was almost completely devoured by the sea, to check out the work in progress. Norm checks back to find the framing complete at the Bay Head cottage and the crew installing the new mahogany decking on the signature wrap-around porch. Back in Point Pleasant, after an update with Carlos, Kevin meets entrepreneur Nick Baker, who's importing concrete crushing machines from Italy that can turn Carlos' demolished concrete slab and foundation into useable fill for the new slab, without taking it offsite. Superstorm Sandy may have turned Rita Gurry's life upside down, but today her new modular home is being built‚ inside out. Richard tours the factory in rural Pennsylvania where the modules that will fit together seamlessly to make Rita's new home are being made, in less than a week!
T35:C05 - S35:E05 - Jersey Shore: Lines in the Sand
Richard checks out the sand shoaling that now obstructs the waterways behind the barrier island, and how contractors like Buddy Young's company, brought in from Texas by the NJ DEP, are dredging the bay back to its pre-Sandy levels, cleaning the sand, and using it to replace the dune on the beach. In Bay Head, general contractor Kevin D'Anunciacao is installing a hurricane-resistant window package and structural hardware at every juncture to help the house stand up to high winds and water. In Point. Pleasant, Carlos and Kevin find plumber Ron Eith repairing the damage and running new gas and sewer lines. Framing is underway, and interior designer Tracy Pearce and architect Dan Lynch are helping create a space that will be a worthy payoff for all of the anxiety, uncertainty and expense the family has had to deal with since Sandy. Richard meets up with builder Anthony Zarrilli to hail the arrival of the two truck-drawn modules that will marry together to form Rita's new house. Rita joins Richard to admire the almost instant progress and get a dramatic first look inside. Kevin meets nationally syndicated radio show host and Jersey Shore native Tom Kraeutler to see one of the most historic and unique spots on the Jersey Shore‚ the Methodist campground at Ocean Grove.
T35:C06 - S35:E06 - Jersey Shore: Go With the Flow
Roger meets Island Beach State Park Manager Ray Bukowski to see what a barrier island looks like in its natural state. Future development that works with nature, instead of against it, will be most successful. Norm finds the Bay Head job in limbo as they wait for FEMA to revise the advisory flood maps. In Pt. Pleasant, Team Carlos has been busy: siding's being removed, hurricane strapping is going on, and with the new slab poured under the house, Kevin sees how they're building the insulated CMU 'breakaway wall' panels between the pilings. Built-in flood vents and the absence of any actual connection to the structure allow them to give way under pressure, should disaster strike again. Roger meets up with local landscaper and environmental planning guru Alex Burke, who's been in the trenches bringing back Jersey Shore landscapes since Sandy left her salty mark. We learn which plants and trees survived the onslaught of salt and sand, which didn't, and how to work toward landscape sustainability on a barrier island. Richard checks out the jaw-dropping progress on Rita's modular Cape: a month after it was set, the siding's on, porches built, mechanical connections made, and drywall, tile and finishes are underway.
T35:C07 - S35:E07 - Jersey Shore: Stories From Sea Level
Kevin meets local surfer Sam Hammer to find out why "If you can surf Jersey, you can surf anywhere." They discuss surfing both before and after the storm; Kevin gets a lesson and tries to get up on a board for the first time! Back in Bay Head, the house has been lifted to its final height. Because they are now in a FEMA "A" zone, they are not required to do pilings, but are instead doing footings and concrete piers to support the house. GC Kevin D'Anuncia explains the design to Norm, and the complications of trying to pour footings at a property that's at sea level. On the Pt. Pleasant project, Kevin points out why fiber cement siding makes sense. Brian Betz shows some tricks for installing the composite decking he's provided for the project, what it's made of, and how it is going down with hidden fasteners. The icing on the cake is a cool vinyl railing system that incorporates a clear guardrail and a horizontal piece of decking as a railing cap. Not surprisingly, the first house done is the modular new house. Richard meets builder Anthony Zarrilli for a victory lap as the punch list is completed. Pre-finished golden teak flooring has been installed, and other finishes like hardware, lighting, and efficient plumbing fixtures add the final touches. Having opened the show at the ocean, we close with marine biologist Chris Wojcik and a look at the Barnegat Bay estuary, designed by nature as a beautiful, wild place that incubates most of the area's marine life. Responsible coastal development along the bay now will make it more resilient when the next storm comes
T35:C08 - S35:E08 - Jersey Shore: One Year Later
Nearly a year after Superstorm Sandy, Norm and Kevin take stock of the recovery along the Jersey Shore, and the progress at the three projects we've been following. In Bay Head, builder Kevin D'Anunciaao is still a few weeks away from completing the job, but homeowner Chris Laird and designer Jules Duffy are eager to show Norm a preview of how the house will look when it is finally finished. Knowing that many communities still have years of rebuilding ahead, Richard visits one of them, Mantoloking, to see how one house there survived a breach that took out a dozen surrounding houses. Kevin checks out the finishing touches on the Point Pleasant project: new garage doors to help conceal the pilings underneath the house, and a sapele mahogany front door built to withstand the elements. Inside, designer Tracy Pearce has worked serious magic with the new spaces, Carlos and Maria have managed to save their dream kitchen, and all agree they've come a long way since Sandy. In Manasquan, Richard finds landscaper Heather Aran planting some container gardens to add color to the front of Rita's new house. Inside, Rita's just about moved in a long way from the mud-and-mold-filled house she had to tear down. While she's had to spend more money than she expected along the way, she is sitting pretty once again, surrounded by family and friends on her new deck. Roger joins Kevin, Norm and Richard for a wharfside party to celebrate the friends they've made on the inimitable Jersey Shore. From beaches, boardwalks and surfboards to house lifting, pilings and breakaway walls, it's been a wild ride and the Shore may never be the same as it was before Sandy. But three houses later, things are definitely looking up.
T35:C09 - S35:E09 - Arlington Italianate: A New Project
After many months on the Jersey Shore, Kevin meets up with Tom Silva at Robbins Farm Park in Arlington, Massachusetts, a family town that also has a cool vibe thanks to its proximity to Boston. The new project house, an 1872 Italianate, is just down the hill. Kevin meets homeowners Heather and Malcolm Faulds‚ they love their house, but know that it needs some updating. The dramatic two-story foyer, covered with a sea of little kid shoes, reveals the need for a mudroom. They want to open up the floor plan, and they definitely need a bigger, better kitchen. Upstairs, the plan is to renovate the full bath, make room for a laundry, and create a real master suite with a second full bath. Outside, Tom shows Kevin how the addition will look, as well as the challenges of foundation work, bricks that need repointing, and badly patched holes from previous insulation. To make the basement into finished space, Tom and Richard need to deal with moisture getting in, a matrix of pipes at the ceiling, a boiler and two sets of stairs that need to be relocated and an unappealing crawl space where they may have to dig for footings. Clearing out first will give them room to work on everything else, so the crew gets to work removing the old boiler and heat pipes. Roger arrives to protect hardscape and landscape from damage during construction. By the end of the day, as the old kitchen and office get demolished, our latest homeowners can already see the improvement.
T35:C10 - S35:E10 - Arlington Italianate: Old House Discoveries
Richard investigates a curious Arlington Heights landmark as Fred Laskey from the MWRA explains why the locals dressed up their water tower to resemble an obscure Greek Temple. Back at our house, Tom shows Kevin what demolition revealed: a hidden back staircase, great new ceiling height in the kitchen, and decent framing that can be reused in the former office. Upstairs, the discoveries are not so good: the second floor joists in the former full bath are badly compromised. The plan is to beef up the structure by sistering in joists from below, but first, they must remove the old stairs from the second floor all the way down to the basement. At Portland, Maine's Victoria Mansion, one of the grandest and best-preserved examples of Italianate-style architecture in the U.S., Tim Brosnihan shows Norm the hallmarks of the style and how preservation carpenters like Caleb Hemphill are diligently working to restore and preserve this architectural gem. Back in Arlington at our humble Italianate, Roger relocates a massive rhododendron from the front to an elevated bed in the backyard.
T35:C11 - S35:E11 - Arlington Italianate: Concrete Jungle
Kevin arrives to find Tom having done even more demo than last time. The more he kept digging, the more problems he found: more joists and studs hacked up in the first floor bath, an enormous wasps' nest, a compromised kitchen floor structure, and even the rubble stone foundation under the office addition had to go. After a lot of hand digging and some new footings, today mason Mark McCullough is ready get the new foundation going using concrete block. Kevin jumps in to lend a hand laying the block, and Mark scribes it to an existing rock outcropping. Norm points out that the builders of this house never imagined a finished basement, but now that Tom is headed that way, the wildly pitched floor and ledge in the back have been carefully dug and cut out to make room for a level floor in what will be the exercise room. To protect and bolster the delicate fieldstone foundation, Mark and his crew poured a concrete curb that will also serve as a base for the new interior walls; now that it's cured, they release the forms and pour the new slab inside the curb. Determined to find out what's been hidden up there all these years, Tom and Kevin break through the living room ceiling and make a breathtaking discovery: not only is there another foot or more of ceiling height, but the original plaster cove moldings and medallion are still in place.
T35:C12 - S35:E12 - Arlington Italianate: Quest for a Dry Basement
So far, most of the action on our Arlington Italianate project has been on the back of the house. Tom shows how he's framing the new roof to meet the less-than-square existing roof by graduating the rafters. Architect David Whitney explains the logic behind the addition and the new interior spaces on the second floor. As it turns out, a dry basement may not come easily: mason Mark McCullough shows Kevin the corner of the brick foundation that has been failing and letting water into the basement. To repair and repoint, he's using a new additive in the mortar that uses a crystalline quartz compound to keep water at bay. In the basement, mason Bill Della Sorte shows how he's using the additive to create a slurry to fill the newly repointed joints from the inside for even more protection. Roger meets landscape architect Marion Pressley at Elm Bank, the estate that is now the headquarters of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, to see the Italianate Garden that she recently restored there. Back at our little Italianate, Norm helps Tom cut through the wall for the new mudroom entrance that will basically change the flow of the whole first floor.
T35:C13 - S35:E13 - Arlington Italianate: Getting to Level
Things have definitely opened up at the Arlington project. Tom shows Kevin the new floor plan and explains the system he devised to ensure a flat ceiling in the newly expanded kitchen. In the latest chapter of the finished basement saga, Norm finds Tom working with mason Mark McCullough to level out the existing concrete floor with the help of a pressurized hydrostatic altimeter and self-leveling concrete. Roger and homeowner Heather Faulds welcome landscape designer Cricket Beauregard to discuss options for the front yard and to see some of her other work in the neighborhood: shade gardens, woodland paths, privacy screening, and hardscape options. With the door openings all established, it is time for the window openings, and one of the spaces begging for a new window is the front hall. Tom and Norm cut in the opening from the outside, install the new window, and show the many steps to properly flashing a window the Tom Silva way.
T35:C14 - S35:E14 - Arlington Italianate: Details on the Addition
Kevin arrives to find a view-changing ribbon of windows installed in the new eat-in kitchen. Outside, Tom ties in the second floor addition with matching clapboards, but the first floor is getting a unique vertical beadboard detail called for by the architect. In the basement, mason Mark McCullough makes a hole in the old rubble stone foundation to receive a new window. Norm catches up with carpenter Joe Langlais to see how in just 8 years, he's gone from a high school apprentice to running a major residential job for Tom Silva in one of Boston's most prestigious neighborhoods. Meanwhile, Tom shows Kevin how he's replicating the 150-year-old corbels that adorn the roofline of our house, and how he's using them to help tie in the addition. Back in the basement, Richard and project plumber Kevin Bilo work to remove the old cast iron waste pipe that is in the way of our stairs. The new line requires an old-style connection made from molten lead and oakum a time-honored and fascinating process.
T35:C15 - S35:E15 - Arlington Italianate: Arlington Heights
Kevin arrives to find Roger onsite with arborist Matt Foti and a solid plan to let light into the yard with some selective tree pruning. Richard revisits the benefits of using the "super plastic" PEX instead of copper for the water supply lines. Norm gets a brief history lesson on our neighborhood via local historian and neighbor Richard Duffy, who has recently completed museum-quality restorations to parts of his 1872 Stick-style home. Tom shows Kevin how to convert a jamb that once held a door into an elegant cased opening with the help of a dutchman, a filler strip, and a bead detail created with a router to achieve a smart looking reveal.
T35:C16 - S35:E16 - Arlington Italianate: Italianate Inspiration
Paint color consultant Bonnie Krims explores some historically informed options for the exterior of our Italianate style home, while Norm and Tom patch in the holes in the old oak veneer floors left from moving around walls and duct openings. Richard presents a solution to the ugly PVC intake and exhaust pipes that come out of a typical boiler. Today, because we are installing a new, more efficient boiler, we can use a smaller, flexible exhaust pipe in the old chimney that has a smart-looking integrated cap, allowing us to use the chimney itself for the fresh air intake. Kevin meets interior designer Christine Tuttle at an 1870 Italianate style home in Dedham, Massachusetts, to see how work she recently completed there echoes what we might do at our house. Back in Arlington, Tom oversees an army of subs working to finish up the roughs so he can insulate, and upstairs, he shows Kevin the places where he likes to see radiant heat used the most: exterior walls, bathroom floors, the shower walls, and even within the shower bench seat.
T35:C17 - S35:E17 - Arlington Italianate: Deadliest Old House?
This Old House welcomes a special guest from Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch: Bering Sea deck boss and aspiring captain Edgar Hansen. When he's not doing the most dangerous job in the world, he is a DIY guy who loves home renovation. To assess his skills, Tom Silva puts Edgar to work patching cracks in the horsehair plaster walls at the front entry, then Richard shows him how the PEX tubing we are using for the water lines needs to be "fished" through the building. Meanwhile, Norm and Tom tackle the project of raising the height of the railing on the second floor landing, to make it safer for the kids. Then Roger sees how Edgar handles a jackhammer as he helps to remove the old set of concrete stairs at the front entry to make way for the new. At the end of the day, Edgar compares notes with Norm and Kevin before he heading back to crab fishing in Alaska.
T35:C18 - S35:E18 - Arlington Italianate: Old World, New World
Local historian Richard Duffy reveals the common thread behind some of Arlington's most beloved historic buildings. Roger shows Kevin how he's using new granite steps with an antique look to dramatically improve the appearance of the front entry. To help with the tight fit against the house, Roger places the middle step on a bed of ice, so it will melt right into place. Inside, plaster contractor Bob Bucco repairs the severely damaged plaster mouldings and medallion by hand, while 3D printing specialist David Kempskie arrives to show how the repairs can also be made in a computer, thanks to state-of-the-art 3D scanning, modeling, and printing technology. Back out front, it's time to finally add a railing to the entry porch. Norm and Tom review the design options provided by the architect, then get to work fabricating the balustrade, which features a whimsical and period-appropriate flat-stock baluster that is custom-made on site.
T35:C19 - S35:E19 - Arlington Italianate: Hydrangeas and Hail Storms
Roger shows Kevin the right way to remove a hydrangea with roots that are undermining the foundation of the house. Then Tom shows Kevin the final exterior paint color selections while painting contractor Mauro Henrique offers strategies for working with the potentially messy new raspberry red body color. Kevin travels to Richburg, SC, to visit the not-for-profit Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) where they are conducting the first ever indoor hailstorm in their "Mother Nature Chamber" to see how various building materials hold up to destructive hail. Back in Arlington, Norm finds Tom doing some building science of his own, going the extra mile to keep water and dampness at bay in the basement.
T35:C20 - S35:E20 - Arlington Italianate: Water, Water Everywhere
Local historian Richard Duffy offers a look at Arlington's Spy Pond and the ice-harvesting industry that was responsible for the forward progress of the town. Richard digs in to the water pressure problems at the house by opening up the street to install a new main water line. Inside, Tom installs the new pre-finished Brazilian chestnut flooring in the kitchen so he can next tackle the newly arrived kitchen cabinets. Kevin discovers a business that can replicate historic wood gutters out of durable fiberglass in custom colors. After an in-depth look at how they are made, Norm and installer Peter Robinson install the new gutters at the house.