This Old House S16E15 · The Acton House - 15

Overview

We arrive to find Jeff Hosking installing the salvaged floorboards he found in a New Hampshire yard. Jeff discusses the challenges of working with such material, and shows a stationary double-drum sander he uses to take off a little of the boards' rough surface at a time. Upstairs, Joe Ferrante applies a colored grout to the slate tile in the master bath. In the dining room, homeowner Terry Maitland - after checking out a similar house nearby - decides to take down the plaster ceiling, in the hopes that an original beam and joist floor system lurks beneath. Unfortunately, what they find is not very preety... On a more positive front, the guys build a historically accurate entryway for the house back at the workshop. Finally, a new lightning arrest system goes on the building.

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Subtitles

Episodes

1. 1 1. The Acton House - 11994-01-01The season begins with a tour of the country's oldest wood-frame house: the Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts, built in 1636. We then go to the season's project house (and t
2. 2 2. The Acton House - 21994-01-15The day begins with the crew moving the old milk shed to another spot on the property. Inside, Richard Trethewey has done an energy audit and determined that, with the addition of
3. 3 3. The Acton House - 31994-01-28Homeowner Terry Maitland cuts down a tree to make way for the new foundation, while the crew lays out the excavation lines using a small laser level. Excavation contractor Herb Bro
4. 4 4. The Acton House - 41994-02-01We tour the newly demolished back areas of the house, and see how woefully underframed they are. In preparation for the new foundation, the crew suspends the gable end of the old h
5. 5 5. The Acton House - 51994-02-15At the site, lumber - conventional and engineered - has arrived, and the crew begins to attach the sill to the foundation. Terry Maitland lays down fiberboard to protect his old fl
6. 6 6. The Acton House - 61994-02-28The framing crew continues working on the addition; a large steel beam to carry out the upper floor is lowered into place. A framer demonstrates a pneumatic tool for attaching meta
7. 7 7. The Acton House - 71994-03-01With the addtion weatherweight, its massing is apparement and seems to make a successful match with the old building. Inside, Tom Silva shows us the lightweight steel partition wal
8. 8 8. The Acton House - 81994-03-15Redwood clapboards - finger-jointed and preprimed - start to go on the addition; our general contractor shows us a trick with a ""story pole,"" which helps him space the clapboards
9. 9 9. The Acton House - 91994-03-28As he contemplates installing replacement windows in the original building, our master carpenter explains that it might make sense to replace the old, heavily weathered clapboards
10. 10 10. The Acton House - 101994-04-01Tom Silva shows us his reroofing progress - stripping of old shingles, plywooding sheathing, new shingles, redge vent. Down at ground level, the old clapboards have been stripped o
11. 11 11. The Acton House - 111994-04-15Homeowners Terry and Sima Maitland puzzle over exterior paint colors, settling on a pumpkin for the field and cream for the trim. They discuss a few details of the farmer's porch t
12. 12 12. The Acton House - 121994-04-28Tom Silva tests out the old-fashioned v-shaped gutter he made for the front porch, then takes us on a tour of the house, explaining his preparations for the spray-in insulation. Mo
13. 13 13. The Acton House - 131994-05-01We see Terry busily caulking the battered clapboards of the west gable in preparation for the top coat of paint. Painter George Hourihan applies the gloss latex top coat to body an
14. 14 14. The Acton House - 141994-05-15At in-ground propane tank is installed for cooking and drying. Inside, the wallbaord is up, plaster is going on the ceiling, and Tom Silva demonstrates a new vacuum sander for fini
15. 15 15. The Acton House - 151994-05-28We arrive to find Jeff Hosking installing the salvaged floorboards he found in a New Hampshire yard. Jeff discusses the challenges of working with such material, and shows a statio
16. 16 16. The Acton House - 161994-06-01The crew installs the new front entryway. Kitchen designer Glenn Berger leads a tour of the new kitchen, and our host takes viewers to the Bath, Maine, showroom and workshop where
17. 17 17. The Acton House - 171994-06-15Our host arrives to find installer Michael Griffiths laying out a carpet for the master suite. It's made of recycled soda bottles. Inside, he meets up with Tom Silva, who shows him
18. 18 18. The Acton House - 181994-06-28The final days. We arrive to find the telephone company burying a new multipair line into the house, leaving the west gable free of overhead wires. Landscape architect Tom Wirth us
19. 19 19. The Napa Valley House - 11995-02-01The crew heads west to California's Napa Valley and Dennis Duffy's circa 1906 farmhouse. Essentially untouched in the last few decades, the house needs a new, larger and brighter k
20. 20 20. The Napa Valley House - 21995-02-08Work begins on the Duffy residence, with Jim Nolan's crew tearing off the back porch with a backhoe. We visit architect Jon Lail's office to see the proposed kitchen addition and a
21. 21 21. The Napa Valley House - 31995-02-15After a period of heavy rains and flooding, Napa Valley - and the jobsite - are a soggy mess. The show opens in sandbagged downtown Napa, then head to the job, where foreman Jeff C
22. 22 22. The Napa Valley House - 41995-02-22The show start with a visit to Napa Valley's oldest wooden, gravity-fed winery, home of Trefethen Vineyards. At the site, our master carpenter meets plumber George Biter, who shows
23. 23 23. The Napa Valley House - 51995-03-01We check out the mustard plants in a vineyard near the farmhouse before heading over to a very busy jobsite. There, contractor Jim Nolan shows us the extra work that has had to be
24. 24 24. The Napa Valley House - 61995-03-08With remarkable progress at the site, we tour the exterior with Jim Nolan, seeing fir decking, trim details, traditional redwood siding and a synthetic stone facing for the foundat
25. 25 25. The Napa Valley House - 71995-03-15The show opens at Clos Pegase, a winery designed by noted architect Michael Graves. At the site, the rains continue, and so does progress. Our master carpenter follows the installa
26. 26 26. The Napa Valley House - 81995-03-22The final day opens at a scenic overlook on the first clear day in a week. On site, the painters are applying the exterior topcoat, carpenters are cutting the last pieces of trim a