The This Old House Hour Making a stained glass window; touring a flooring factory....

I've never seen anything like this before there's, already rot going on in that trunk so what have you found up here well. A bit of a surprise it's. Really the classic plumbers, lament. There, is right on family. That paints together stays together nice job guys, where will a slab like this be here money's in the detail Oh beautiful. And also, on, ask this little house this. Wall probably looked great when it went in a few years ago right now not. Too good I'm gonna show you what went wrong and how to fix it and I'll, show you a few tricks on how to get more out of a basic circular saw that's next on ask this old house at. The Home Depot you can play matchmaker with, any paint color you bring in like. This and this. Yep. That, to the. Home Depot is proud to support this, old house like. You. GMC. Believes that a higher standard of craftsmanship, and innovation, sets professionals. Apart. GMC. Proud. To lend this old house a helping, hand since 2002. When. The unexpected happens to your old house State, Farm is here to help life go right proud. Sponsor of this old house for over 25 years. What. Will you do today. At, American, Standard, we make products, designed to meet the needs of today and tomorrow. Learn. More at, American, Standard, calm. A dedication. To timeless, craftsmanship. Reveals the true character, of every home. That. Is, why Marvin, windows and doors is a proud sponsor of, this, old house. Hey. There I'm Kevin O'Connor and welcome back to this old house here at Newton where you can see we, are making a lot of progress the, board and plaster guys have swept through the house and most of that is done the hardwood floors are going down and right, here in this space the number one job was to open up these three rooms kitchen, living, room dining room all into one Tommy and to do that that, meant a bunch of beans it sure did a bunch of beams that if you look up top they're plastered, right now right, and to support those beams we have these 6x6. Fir now, those beams are actually engineered, lumber than all lvls, it is, a beam here beam there and another one there those, beams are actually carrying the second, four outside. Wall and the roof and this, beam is carrying the interior, floor, level all the way up to the ceiling and so what's driving the decision behind the posts here is you span bigger distances, than this, well absolutely but the idea of it is the. Shorter, the span the. Shorter, the beam I'll so you want to tuck that up and hide right so we want to accent it make it look a plasterer beam so, we get a dress up these six by sixes, these six by six is a fir, and they're, not meant to be seen so we're gonna cover them up so you'd man you're gonna hide those adjust them all nicely right we're gonna use this material right here this is this is basically, figured. As like wood flour put together with resins, and it. Really, holds up well it, doesn't expand and contract like, regular wood the. Might is go together really, nice and, it paints beautiful all right we'll see if you can keep up with Maddie and I'll leave you guys do it thanks. All. Right it's looking good now, this is gonna get painted up top here this, top is gonna get stained as an accent piece and the, cabinet below will get painted, I think it looks pretty good looks, nice and neat some great job not bad for your first job man. Since. Day one of this project, we knew that Liz wanted to make a stained-glass window for. Her mudroom and this, is the, studio of our stained glass instructor, Michelle, louie-louie hey. Guys. This. Is terrific thank you so, you are well underway, with this beautiful, piece of work of art here huh where does this process start, oh it. Started with a, sketch. A small sketch this, is not a sketch, this is a this is a full-size rendering, right here right, yep I started, with a hand sketch I put it in the computer traced. Over it so I can enlarge it to the window size gotcha. Okay and how, do you end up with the colors, it's.

Just Sticking with one sheet of glass would be kind of boring especially when you want to talk. About leaves. And the way they catch the light and, so. Once we refine, this, then, I was able to look, in my. Studio. And find the sheets of glass that she wanted, to use. For, example we use this French, girls here which is a flat. Glass we, just try. To find a glass that's got a lot of character, a lot, of movements, so a a simple. Design a full scale design, a lot. Of work on what the glass is. Then. You get to work yep yeah then, I went to Michelle's, class and, we, took this drawing made. Copies of, it and made a template, that you cut the glass, around so. So. This tells you oh wow, you've. Got actually this is like a piece of thick paper here you've got to cut out every single piece in paper yes everything, in paper and then that tells you how big the glass needs to be and then you want to make sure that the glass is exactly. The. Size of the paper otherwise it will not fit. The space, you, can't have an expanding, window, so. I. Actually, have one more piece left but we, grind it and then put. This copper. Foil on I'd love to see some of that candy for, us I've got one more piece to go. So. This is a grinder, here it's, got a wheel and a grinding blade and then it's. Also uses water to. Keep the dust down. So. Now we clean it with some alcohol and, then we can apply the copper foil and. The, foil that. You talked about what. Is that for that, is to hold the solder to the piece. Of glass so, that's what keeps it all together so, you want to put the glass on as. Centered. As you can then. You, do, the sides oh yeah. You, can actually see it just sort of tighten it up there mm-hmm. See. If it fits like. A glove on. A soldering, on a soldering, all right all right so I'm going to start at the top oh you know, and. What I want to do is. Feed. The soda with a buck. And so the solder, we know is sticking to the copper and the copper is adhered, to the glass it's connecting everything yes, brilliant. Nose, oh yeah. They're getting it flat that definitely helps so. Once, you've actually soldered, this entire side Michelle does the other side have to be soldered as as well yes, we need to flip, the panel and then, do, the same process, on the other side Wow, painstaking. So he's actually having a lot more to do here oh yeah I'll leave you to that but I can't wait to see this in the house it's gonna be exciting Oh excellent, all right thank you this Thank You show, thank you good. Our, homeowners want oak floors here, in the kitchen and in the in-law suite above the garage and, there, are a lot of suppliers for hardwood floors but they're not all created equal, and our homeowners well they actually chose a supplier, that takes special care when. They harvest their trees so, the other day I went to the hills of western Pennsylvania to, check out the operation. I'm. About an hour and a half north of Pittsburgh on a large force the operation, owned by the Hickman, family the, Hickman's have been cutting trees from this land for four generations to. Feed the sawmills, but it's the way that they cut the trees that has brought me here the Hickman's will only cut, trees in a sustainable, fashion Jessica nice to meet you nice, to meet you Kevin. So. Tell me about this, sustainability. In your guys certification, what does it mean for your operation, yeah it's really important for us to be sustainable, we're, FSC, certified, so that's Forest, Forest Stewardship, Council okay, basically we. Want to make sure we're growing, more than we're harvesting all right yeah so there's more growth coming out of this forest in what you take it out absolutely, yeah absolutely I mean we've recently. Cut here and you can look out and there's, still a lot of trees, you. Know this does not look like a logging operation at all what else does it mean to be certified, we'll leave standing, timber that's. Dead like for a den you know if there's critters that are living and it will leave that dead tree right or the animal so that's that's part of it as well. Also. You know then what goes to the marketplace you know that's that's a big thing with the FSC is so, that you as a consumer know, that you're purchasing, products. From a sustainable. Well managed forest so you required have some sort of a chain of control. Absolutely. So. Back in the 1940s, my, great-grandfather, actually, clear-cut. This property during the war you know so my grandfather here this is pop Larry pop, Larry nice to meet you sir pleasure, Kevin so. Clear-cut at one point, by. Your dad and, then, it looks like you changed up the routine well. Yeah it regenerated, very nicely and not. Only that but it, maintains, a continuous. Supply of product. Throughout, the years and what.

We Do by doing that is maintain a certain. Cubic, feet per acre which every eights that maximum, growth so, what is coming down today is this one of the ones we selected, this street right here because it's. A mature reto so, by taking this out, it'll. Let the sunlight in and it'll release seedlings, and they'll, they'll start to grow it's a continuous. Process, they're from the Acorn up okay. So. Now that you see it down what do you think of that piece of lumber I think, it's beautiful I think about. 700. Square, feet of flooring, could be made out of that long really can you guess how old that is it's probably, 80. Years old so, that came up from the original clear-cut. And. So that's part that's a large enough log the quarter saw right mm-hmm, yeah that local Porter song. Along, with this harvest Jessica, and I made our way to the sawmill run by her brother Jake. To. Prep the log and to protect the downstream. Mill, blades the, debarker, makes short, work of the coarse exterior, which, in turn is sold off the landscapers. As mulch, from. Here, the logs progress, inside, to the mill and are, turned into camps. By the head sawed a can is a log that's been squared on all four sides it makes it easier for the resource, to cut it. All, right so this is the big Ries on this, is where the camp comes after the head saw so. The guy marking the board is giving. Instructions to the guy in the box to tell him how to cut it cuz, each one of these cans that we have up here some of them are gonna be plain sawn and some are gonna be Porter song and you know so everyone is different. And, that guy. Marking it's giving the direction so, now you just cut one board, at a time one, board at a time comes. Back around and cuts one board again. They boards come down and some, of them have Wayne on them which is bark, or lack of wood they. Go through the saw and clean up the sides. And. So what's going on down here so down here these guys are basically doing, what the marks tell them to do they're. Separating, the lengths and from. Down here it's ready to be dried. Man, this is a lot, of wood yeah, so, this is where it comes to get dried it, may not be the most exciting, part about what happens at the sawmill but it may be one of the most important parts right, and it. Might sit on the air dry and yard for up to a year Wow, so how many how wet is the wood when it's green like what percentage, moisture, it could be eighty percent moisture, content and then we need to get it dried down to six percent for our flooring that's what we drive to so air dry and then eventually into a kiln right the killer is right behind this stack of lumber yeah how long can our, flooring be in the kiln a little about a month, yeah. The quarter saw in flooring that you guys have that can take you know take up to two months if it was green going in so, a lot of drying goes on with this wood yep and once it's dry we're off to where we're off to the flooring plant now. Dried our, rough sawn lumber begins. To be dressed out to flooring it, gets scanned, sorted. Planed. And trued, before. Heading off to, a finer milling. Jessica. And i meet up with their dad, we'll take us through the milling process so. What we have here is what we saw the lower building, rifting, quartered white oak service. The 1560s, rip the four and a half inches wide ready. To come into the motor, okay. This motor is a six head machine, six. Different heads in here, jack. Is picking which face, comes. Through upside, down first. Hand is just a hoggin head takes a little bit of wood off off, the face side off the face side yes. Second. Head puts. The groove. Third, head puts, the tongue. 410, is just a Hagen head taking, some off of this the, bottom side. Fifth head puts, the relief cut on it yep, and, then the last, head. Is just a finished head on the face. So what's happening here is. Tim. Is dropping out unsound, defense, okay. You've, got a clear grade we've got a natural range. What. We're shopping out is anything. For. A check, a split, maybe a hole in the hood exactly. Laughter, the chop saw the, flooring. Comes out here these, guys are doing the. Great separation. As. Some good-looking. Stuff or, if they're any nice stuff. Okay, Kevin sir this is the last step air grabs, the board we, have a saw cuts it square there's, two horizontal saws, to put a tongue on this side. The lowest take it to the other side same. Thing happens, the grievers put on the opposite side and. There goes over is made in the next two bundles package, ready, to put on a truck that's top bar how son next stop your house ready thank you very much thank, you for the whole family we love know where our hardwood floors came from.

It's Part of our generation, next initiative, we're trying to convince young people to consider the building trades as a career path it, was a hundred years ago the federal government first, started funding, vocational. Education, but. Today's vocational, schools are nothing, like they were when I grew up this. Is Essex, Agricultural, and Technical High School and the, variety of the curricula, is being taught inside this building is amazing, in. Addition, to traditional high, school coursework English, math and science they also have classes, in equine, science, culinary. Arts graphic. Communications. Automotive. Technology. This. Lab teaches, the skills needed to start a career as an electrician, but. We came here for the plumbing and HVAC shops, as you may know two of the students from here are actually, working with us on the Newton the sauce project, and Jim Russell's our plumbing instructor, here hey Jim hey rich hey don't nice to be here in your laboratory thank, you very much for coming take us through what's going on here so basically, we're. Trying to mimic the outside world in this shop atmosphere, and we can do all that with these, booths that are here right everything. Everything they might fire everything they're like fine let me show you cédric, here is installing, a shower valve, all right so Cedric what, do you got oh you got here's, what you're trying to match there yeah from the match this one see you so you've drilled the studs and and anchored everything. Nicely. Done that won't make any noise in the wall - will it oh good, job let. Me take you over here these. Two students are installing a toilet hey guys, you. Guys do the drain work here what. Do you use PVC, in, the old days we used to pour hot lids a lot easy. We. Also have them use a cast, iron as well as the PVC, because they need to know how to use all the fittings and transitions, and so forth and. It's not just plumbing, either we also teach heating basic hydraulics, high-efficiency. Boilers, or heating boiler right here all the proper piping, yep these girls are hooking in a, heating. I'm. Getting cold. So. Guys look I'd hate to stop you from all your work but, I wanted to take a couple minutes just to say thank you let thanks, for letting us come visit. You guys today, Jim's. Not listening. How, are you learning enough here to get, go out into the trade.

It's. Great how, did it happen how did you choose the, came here for carpentry I didn't know what I wanted to do came into the plumbing shop found, this Russell was really nice and I just enjoy working. Around here I still. Think it's magic, when, you do a plumbing, system and you got hot and cold water where, it should be it's clean water you can trust the waste goes away right, everybody's so happy it's, like magic isn't it and when you first have a heating system you flip on the switch and people think you're a genius, I. Wish. You guys the best I really I'm really excited. This. Is not, your father's vote tech school they're teaching real-life, skills in the trades and for, many of these kids they're also helping to build them a career. The. Oak flooring mill force in Pennsylvania, is down in the family room and throughout the kitchen but, in the mudroom well we're actually putting down a cement, tile we, saw our homeowner design us on a computer it's a great room for because there's a lot of traffic you, can come in from the outside from, the porch right here you, can come in from the garage up, into this space and also Joe's, parents have. Got some room above the garage and, you'll be getting to that up this beautiful staircase you put in the norm that's, right this is both you know wood it's got skirt, boys made out of poplar, risers. Made out of poplar and then some nice white oak treads, and, a big heavy new horse right here poeple, are gonna get painted you're gonna stay stained, you'll be stained, or clear finish nice okay so there's two more treads to go in and they're not between the two skirt boys these as you see with this one they're going to extend by because. Of the newel post so, what I want to do is first, I want to cut this to length because, if you see I push it up against the skirt Boyd won the script Boyd may not be perfectly, square, so. We have a little extra wood so I take this block put. It between here, make. Sure this back edge stays just flush, it's gonna go into a groove after we cut it they take the same block over to the other end and, if. I put it up against the skirt board I can. Use my utility knife just. To score the, top of the tread and that's exactly, where I want to cut it very, accurate, even better than using the air scribe. Alright. Alright. So fits well now in terms of fastening, norm cuz I mean I can tell that you didn't want to see any of the fasteners, on these treads right what's, the process well Maddie who's working here doing a lot of finished carpentry showed, me a new way to put these treads in you know we're learning from our own craftspeople, which is great you know it's already showed me is you use blocks like this and you actually attach them, to the bottom of the tread with, this edge being right behind where this riser, is and then. Once it's all glued and you set the tread in you can drive screws, through just under the tread and they go into this block and they hold the tread in place and those screws will be covered by the Scotia molding later cool okay alright so the first thing I have to do now is I have to take a pencil and draw a line. At. The front of the riser, so, I know where that is. Alright. So now you're, the blocks you've. Actually drawn a line that's. 3/4, of an inch back just using the block itself, and. What we want to do now is we want to put a little bit of glue on these that, 3/4, represents, the thickness, of the riser that's right so, there now we're inbound to that cool. And. So we'll put this. Ok. I want. To be between these two marks, you.

Just Line it up with that and use a couple of Brad's to secure it first. All. Right so there's a mood we'll do that first and then we'll finalize, it with. Some screws. So. Now we want, to put some glue in this, groove. Okay, and I want to put some on the top of this and. Trim. Boyd. Okay. Now on, the. Stringers. We're actually gonna use silicon. Why. Not go no it's another tip from Maddie and it's a good one so we'll put a nice bead down. And. Once the tread is set in there the silicone the advantage of the silicon over anything like construction, adhesives, which is often used is, that it's flexible and, it'll stay stuck to the stringer as well as the bottom of the tread so. If there's any movement it, kind of softens the stair yet it holds it all together. But. No squeaks, oh that's right. Now. We got to get it back in there. Yeah. Get. Those blocks to just. Alright, now we gonna put some clamps on it so we put the screws in and we'll put one in each of these openings. Alright, is, it well. Look at that huh boy that is seamless, and tight everywhere, you, might well that's gonna be great nice job so. What, do you got come up next week well Joe is gonna help me repurpose, an old door nice and what is with Rogers got in store for us a prefabricated. Stone, wall fabric. Yes unbelievable, so until then I'm Kevin O'Connor and I'm norm Abram for this all the house. Next. Time on this old house, all. Right let's put the door in the opening. See. How it looks. Make. Sure it's up against the side nice. Tight, I got. Some help, rehanging. An old door you've, heard of mobile homes how about mobile stone, walls these are each about 6,000, pounds and, we save this old corner, cupboard and now it's time to bring it home that's. Next time on this, old house. Stay. Busy little hands, learn, to do as much as you can because. The things you learn now are the lessons your bigger hands will, always remember the, kids workshop, at the home depot building, memories, for 20 years. Like. You GMC. Believes that a higher standard of craftsmanship, and innovation sets professionals. Apart. GMC. Proud. To lend this old house a helping, hand since 2002. When. The unexpected happens to your old house State. Farm is here to, help life go right proud. Sponsor of this old house for over 25, years. What. Will you do today. At. American, Standard, we make products, designed to meet the needs of today and tomorrow. Learn. More at, American, Standard, calm. A dedication. To timeless, craftsmanship. Reveals, the true character, of every home. That. Is why Marvin, windows indoors is a proud, sponsor of, this old house. More. This old house go to pbs.org, slash. This old house where you can watch full episodes anytime. And follow, us on facebook twitter and instagram. This, Old House magazine the companion, to the television series provides, trusted, information from our team of experts use your credit card to order 10 issues for 10 dollars while, one eight hundred to two one five nine zero, zero to, subscribe. This. PBS, program, will return in a moment. You. Can use your lawnmower to take care of your lawn but, how, do you take care of your lawn mower. There. Are five things you'll keep your lawnmower running in tip-top, shape one. Check, the oil engine. Oil should be checked before every. Use if. It's too low add some, if it's dirty changing. Is what new oil looks like in his, oil it needs to be changed. Make. Sure you pour the used oil into a sturdy container, with a tight lid, then. Recycle. It at a service station or auto shop. Add. The new oil a little at a time and, keep. Checking it with a dipstick, until, you're at the full mark, to. Change. The air filter, when the air filter is dirty the engine works hotter, make. Sure you get the right size and swap, it out every, season for sooner, if it's dusty, conditions. Three, change. The spike was, spotflux. Fire thousands, of times a minute so. They should be changed, every season or when the engine starts running round number, four shopping. The blade shop. Blade makes a nice clean cut on the grass a dull, blade makes a ragged, cut and that ragged, cut can take longer to heal and lead to disease with. A spark plug disconnected. Use a wrench to loosen the, blade you. Can shop on a bleed by hand using a metal flower or, you can use a grinder. Check. And make sure the blade is balanced, before, you reinstall and. Five use, fresh, gas most.

Gasolines Now containing, ethanol and, ethanol can damage an engine if it goes stale, there, are fuel additives, which will treat ethanol, and extend, the life of your guests. If you take care of yo one more it'll run for many many years. For. More tips and tricks from ask this old house, go to video, pbs.org. Today. On ask this old house. Many, people wait for the water to fail and all of a sudden they panic and have to get hot water that night but, I'm gonna propose to you is that we change this out to a type of system, lets you keep each in the. Wreck pens to outside gives you plenty of hot water and saves a lot and operating on sound good that sounds bad sure buddy and. I'll, show you a few tricks on how to get more out of a basic circular saw they, can saw put. It down and push, it along and make my cut and it is very easy just those two marks and you're off to the races this, wall probably look great when it went in a few years ago right, now not. Too good, I'm gonna show you what went wrong and how to fix it, that's. Next on ask this old house, at. The Home Depot you, can play matchmaker with, any paint, color you bring in like. This and this. Yep. That. Too The. Home Depot is proud to support ask, this old house. Like. You GMC. Believes that a higher standard of craftsmanship, and innovation, sets professionals. Apart. GMC. Proud, to lend ask this old house a helping, hand since, 2002. So. This, is it. One, sealant, for window door and kitchen, and bath. Guerrilla. All-purpose, sealant for the toughest jobs on planet, Earth, with. Homeadvisor homeowners. Get matched with local pros for a variety of home projects, from repairs to remodels, you, can read verified, reviews and book appointments online and homeadvisor.com. Home. Advisor is proud to support ask, this old house. Hi. There I'm Kevin O'Connor and welcome. Back to ask this old house what we'd love to hear from you about your house so make sure you keep your letters and your emails coming you, never know who's gonna answer your question or how many people, are gonna answer your question because. You three are working on an email we got about. A failed, retaining, wall yeah it's a block, retaining wall a lot of things that I see right in this picture right here that I just don't like starting. With the material so, you would use a different stone they used the wrong stone certainly, did Joe one, thing I want you to look at is drainage, I've had the same problem the wall fallen out because it was improper, drainage behind, the wall right so, you're obviously picking, a new block so pay attention to the color pick a nice blend that's gonna go with the house and bring the wall with a little bit higher yeah my house retains no you're right and I definitely don't want to go back with that color so get the team working on this huh so who's actually gonna do the house call I'm. Gonna run over and check it out yeah I. Will, Mark's working on that we actually sent Richard to, Milwaukee I'm gonna wear like Michigan has this no hole but, it makes a pretty cool weather it does now you email me about your water either I did right this way all right I'll follow you. Here's. Out water heater over here Richard okay we bought the house two years ago in the inspector warner. Said there, was no liner and maybe it was being vented improperly and causing deterioration over yeah. It's not a great basement for you at all and, as long as your heroes wanted me to raise another six eighty another day okay all right little history lesson about venting, when this house was built that probably would have been a Coal Fired furnace. Here. And back, then there was plenty of temperature, leaving, that furnace, and come up into the chimney so, whether or not that chimney was lined or not didn't matter that chimney was hot all went to long and all, the temperature, and all the moisture, in flue, would at least go right outside. Now as efficiency got improved on equipment what happens this it meant more heat went into the house and less went into the chimney okay. So now there was issues where, it started to cause rot. Away from the inside. They, take the furnace the new modern furnace it's so efficient, you don't even need to vent it into, the chimney anymore, now, we're, stuck with just this water heated with a tiny flue with nothing but a little bit of temperature, but plenty of moisture they, can get in there and rot that brick, from the inside up so, many people will now would have tank type water he'll like this might put, a power vent or here and push.

The Flue products to outside you've already got a really efficient furnace that vents to outside and, once that happens now the chimney can go away people's oh look I got all kinds of space and, I can just to get more square footage here this, is something you want to keep the, chimney it's local, cream city brick which, is famous to Milwaukee they don't make it anymore okay and we want to expose it maybe the second or third floor if you have a fireplace, put in that would be cool we really like the character we like to look cool, so, how about hot, water do you haven't you want to keep the chimney you got enough hot water three. Three, kids and my wife the five of us we've always had issues with it it's, always, you. Know first person takes your shower the second person has good enough hot water and with three to two girls getting older you know we're not much of it all right well you have got a 40. Gallon tank type water heater it looks like it's been in for about five years and. It's, a nine year warranty, it's got some life left in it you don't have to do anything right now and, many people wait for the water heater to fail and all of a sudden they panic and have to get hot water that night what, I'm gonna propose to you is that we change this out to a type of system, lets you keep your chimney direct. Fence to outside, gives you plenty of hot water and saves a lot in operating costs so I'm good that sounds fabulous. All. Right so what I want to get install for you today is a thing called an on-demand, water, heater also called the instantaneous, raw data it's, pretty much the standard way they make hot water in all of Asia and most of Europe it's, only about it's, less than 10% of the US market but it's growing every day with, good reason there we have five people who live here Richard is something this small gonna, heat the water I know where we run our hot water pretty quickly you know it will because it heats water so fundamentally. Differently, a tank, type water heater sits, there all day long with a burner underneath a tank and it's, on and off trying to keep that water at 120. Whether or not you hear or not or whether you need hot water what, this does is it heats the water only. When you need it when you open up a faucet. Then and only then does that come on now. It looks a little confusing but, what happens inside this, is. There's. A gas pipe to it here's the gas burners, there's a fan it pushes. The, flue products, when this burner comes on down, through this heat exchange and here's what it looks like inside the, hot flue gas is passed, down through these fins you see the fins right here extracts, every bit of the heat it can and it, transfers, it into the copper water pipes now the water pipes go back and forth back and forth no that has cold water passing, through it that soon becomes hot so. By the time it passes through this primary heat exchanger, you've extracted a lot of the temperature, but remember I talked about the moisture, that's in there at, this point underneath, it there's, a secondary, heat exchanger, that now picks up you see it right here that, picks up that, temperature. And also that you mitad that moisture, now called condensate, and now. That. Thing passes, through here you can see the the water that you've already heated continues. Through another heat exchanger, here extracting. Even more by the time it gets done you've, got almost all the energy you put into this transferred. Into the water that comes out through the faucet, so you'll actually have enough hot water for your soon-to-be teenage, daughters which thankfully Richard is a few years of West's right now, this unit it's, going to cost more for the unit and installation. Is more involved because you got to get a larger, gas line to it because when that burner comes on it uses more gas during that period and you're.

Gonna Have electrical, to it you're gonna have to direct vent it and the hot and the cold has to come over to it but it's worth it, this unit will give you unlimited hot water, it'll, also last a long time I mean this is stainless steel and copper unlike. A glass line steel tank you have to change every five to seven to nine years and, the other thing is it's gonna save you a lot of energy about 30% at least what do you think that sounds great let's get that old water heater out of here. We'll. Use this battery powered pump to drain the, water heater and while it drains I can break the gas and water connection. Local. Plumber Larry putiak is giving us a hand with this installation we. Have to run a new one-inch gas pipe from the gas meter the new water heater. The. Fresh air intake and exhaust pipes, are nested together in a concentric, pipe which means one hole on the outside of the house. Beautiful. The. Hot and cold water lines are 3/4, inch copper pipes. All. Right mark time to take you through your new unit, we've. Got gas line run to the new unit with a shutoff valve, we've tested it we purged it and that's, ready to go we've, got a new cold water line that comes from where the old water heater was right here you can see this blue thing it's an expansion, tank I'm we heat up water we need a place for it to expand, it, comes in here the hot water goes the other way back and connects onto your plumbing system right. Here's an important safety valve this is a temperature, and pressure relief valve, that would relieve if the pressure was ever too high this. Little line right here is actually a condensate, line there's not much left except a little bit of that water and that goes to the floor drain over there and then. We've got the exhaust, is done combustion, air to be burned here exhaust, going out right there through that pipe and. This is the control panel to set the temperature pretty easy is up and down arrows 108, 110. 115. 120, whatever you need pretty easy all right so what do you think and all the space crazy, with the wall hung unit it's all here we get rid of the water heater we. Actually plugged up the flue connection, the chimney and also cleaned up the piping as you only charity I'm going away Richard all right now there's one more thing I want to show you upstairs. All. Right so up here in the master bathroom when you head up water heater downstairs it was on all day it meant that the heat water conducted. Up here so anytime you open the faucet you get hot water well, with a unit, like you've got now when it's off its off and so the pipe between here and there can, actually get cool so. What happens is people run it it has to bring on the burner and they complain about a cold water sandwich, you know having to drain something water well we found a couple of ways to get around that this unit has a bronze recirculation. Pump, on it that. Will be able to pump water as a timer so you could set it for the times you might need hot water morning, and night and it works in concert with this a really interesting valve, called a crossover, valve you, can see that it's connected between the hot water supply from the water heater and the, cold water supply up, to the faucet and inside, it has a bimetallic, element. Inside here that can open a closed based on temperature, in, normal mode, hot water comes up here and goes up to the faucet but.

If It's cool it, opens, and when it does it would bring on that recirc, pump down in the basement, and it, would then push some of that water. Across. Over, into the cold water side bring, it on the burner downstairs. Meaning you're gonna put the water back into the colder side instead of wasting it down the drain and, that means you'll always have our water here at the faucet all, right time, for the test turn it on. Yep. All. Right so, you can actually leave that faucet, on for. As long as you want all day you're never gonna run out of hot water but don't turn you're wasting water come on go ahead Richard. You're the best thanks for coming along thank you you're a great help I know you're a big fan of those on demand hot water used I guess the only knock we've ever heard is that you do have to wait for the hot water to show up you open the faucet you could waste the cold water now, this house was a perfect candidate for one of these systems because that two bathrooms right over the unit you didn't really need to think about a recirculation, line or pump but as we get houses where a bathrooms way over here another, one's way over here you have to have some way to circulate. That water through, so you don't have to waste that water down the drain now every, time that pump is on the recirculation, pump you had the burners on as well yeah so it starts to kind of like work against, a whole catch-22, you, can save water but waste more energy so what, we always have to have on these research systems, as some smart, controls this, one had a timer right comes, on in the morning or at night but, there's others that have a little bayonet, switch that can go into the bathroom door when you when, you come into the bathroom close it the pump will come on just then I was kind of gonna occupied see another one has a little wireless Wi-Fi. Or, Bluetooth walk, in to take a shower that's right there but and you know you'll have the hot water yeah very clever sir so in, that case the circulating, pump comes on pushes the hot water up to that faucet and it goes through that beautiful, little valley cool right so the thing about if that bronze pump is on and there's no nothing, open and that the crossover valve didn't exist it wouldn't do anything the pump would just pump against the dead head suspending. The water we go no absolutely so now with this this is available it's a one-way check valve in it the water goes through yeah. Right and then all of a sudden oh it goes to a weird place it actually goes backwards, down through the cold water line. And what's going to do is actually complete a loop at. The father's fixture, so that this hot water available at the father's fixture that's the thing that blows my mind that even though it goes into the cold water line it ends up back at that tank because it can only go where there is no water so at one place you can go right back to the water that's brilliant, yeah nice good information all right. Tommy. I know you love your circular, saws our most versatile tools in the shop or on the jobsite we use them a lot every. Day and whenever, you using a circular saw you want to make sure that your cuts are always straight right because you're probably cross cutting or ripping something, and a straightedge is a great way to get one of those exactly, so if you put a market, let's say five inches and I put my straightedge, on that mark on this end you know and this end now I can't, really follow that get, that cut because the. Czar's up on top I have to allow for the offset, of the bed in relationship, to the, saw blade which means if you want to cut something that's five inches you need two measurements you need to five inches and then you've got to adjust in this fit in this case it would be another inch and a sixteenth so I'd have to place it at six and a 16 yeah, I place it on the marks clamp. It take, my saw run. It down make sure it's tight to the straightedge. And have a nice straight cut and if you were cutting the other way you've got a different size offset, so it's not the hardest thing in the world but we have come a long way with straight edges because now we've. Got these things called tracks awesome yeah tracks are is I take, my let's, say five inch measurement, and depending, on which. Piece I want I have to allow for the thickness of the blade but, I place it on the mark here place it on the mark there, I don't have to clamp it take. The saw put. It down make. Sure it doesn't move in the position once on position then, push it along and make my cut and it is very easy just those two marks and you're off to the races exactly. The only knock that I've ever heard on these things is that they're pricey you got to buy a special saw and the, track and it can cost hundreds, of dollars yeah, and they save you a lot of time but here's another one right here that you can actually, it's a track saw you, place it down, you put it on your marks so same idea right on your mark right, on your mark allowing, for the thickness of the blade you know and which piece you want this.

Company Makes a base. You can mount on the base of a, saw so, you can take your existing circular. Saw and retrofit it exactly. Beautiful, so this is a sled that it will slide on and, I just take it put it on there and now I can slide along and make my cut so we're not buying a new circular saw in roughly what is this contraption, cost you're probably looking at seventy five eighty dollars that's not bad at all all right and then of course there's always the tried-and-true, method which is you can just make your own and, I did it for years will, you just take a couple of scrap pieces of wood in this case two pieces of quarter-inch I ripped, down one roughly. At 10 inches the other one at 2 inches mm-hmm. Then I just take my store now, and. I'll follow, that along, on, this side all, right and I'll spin it around and, I'll follow it on this, side. So, what I've done is I've just made a custom, track for, that saw now. All I have to do is put it on the line down here put. It on a line down here clamp. It and. Make, a cut look at that great tips Tommy as always, thank you my pleasure. Whoa. Scott, Kelly hey. Mark Lambert - I've, been on the site for two seconds, and I can already see what you guys emailed me about yeah so we moved in about a year ago and. One of the things the inspector pointed out was that he thought the retaining wall was built with the wrong type of bricks at. The time it, was leaning a little bit but. Not too big a deal flash-forward, a year from now through the winter now the sides are falling apart we've. Tried to patch it where we can, but. We're really not sure what we're gonna do about it we're worried the whole things about to collapse right so, eventually, it will go so glad, emailed, but, a few obvious things that I see right off the bat is. The paver stone although it's good quality and built pretty well these, pavers are they're really designed for something else, maybe rim a tree maybe. Border your driveway, you. See that lip right there not, really not, really enough to bear not, really good for this application, as, you guys can see we're retaining a lot of land we're retaining you know they it captures, water even. If you guys look up to your neighbor's house you can see that you know he's 3035 feet in the air above you guys so. As you know everything runs downhill that. Whole Hill all that pressure is bearing. Down on this wall and that's why we see the bulging, and all. The inconsistencies. In the wall and that's, what we're here to do is alleviate, that pressure give you a new wall and. Go from there that's great so what I want to do is rebuild the wall with the right material, well I go get that why don't you guys pull a hosta so we have some room to work. Once. The old papers are out we need to dig back a few inches and give ourselves more room to work I just want to make a nice clean path this yeah. Does. This all need to be cutting. Yeah. All that oh. Hey. Guys so. Now we've dug down we got rid of the wall we've dug back to give ourselves plenty, of room to work and, as. I've been digging they did discover that the first person who built this wall did use gravel, they, didn't use nearly, enough so we're gonna continue to dig down we're. Gonna add more gravel, we're gonna take that first course a block in we're, gonna bury that in the driveway, for more stability and, then, we're gonna add gravel, to the back of the wall as well why is having more gravel better more. Gravel, is better, because, it helps with the drainage again, the big problem with this wall is that have had no drainage so, anytime the water would come down the hill it would build up behind the wall create, ice and push, that wall all over the place as we saw it the, more gravel, the better the, water comes through the gravel dissipates.

Through The block and into the driveway and we don't have any buildup. Okay. Guys so this is the new material, tonight's, concrete block it's good as you can see much bigger much, stronger than what we had originally yeah. Okay, another difference is you, can see these two channels we're. Just gonna pop this little horizontal connector, into that channel I think you can see one on the other side right there yep that makes the wall a lot stronger look, at how that doesn't move yeah so, also, guys notice the color mm, okay we found this color in the original, so, we kind of mix that in with a gray and came up with this yeah, it'll look nice with our house too yeah good. Okay. Okay. We're gonna bury the first course about halfway. To, keep it level I will set a block every six feet or so and level. Those to each other. This, fabric line it will keep dirt, and contaminants, away from the gravel. Then, I can set a string line to guide the level in the face of the rest of the course. Then, we can backfill, with more gravity. To, lay the second course we need to line up the channels, but we want to make sure the. Joints on the face of the wall don't line up. Alright. Guys so now that we have the second course up what we want to do is we want to install this perforated, pipe in the back behind the wall as you can see this pipe has preparations, all the way around it to catch and disperse water it, will act as a second, line of defense just in case the gravel gets clogged with dirt or other contaminants. Once. The pipe is in and we've back filled with more gravel, we can start the third course. The. Final, course is going to be this cap which will secure, with construction, adhesive. It'll. Hide the grooves and give the wall a nice, finished, applause. All, right guys well we finally got the wall up you guys put your plants back and they look great thank you this. Looks really, really good it's a huge improvement over what we had alright great spot not only does it look good but what we did behind the wall with the drainage the gravel, the pipe all that that's gonna make this wall stand up for a long long, time.

So I hope you enjoy it thank you so much all, right.

2018-01-20 17:46

Other news