This Old House (1979)

Episodes

Next episode: S48E3 · 2026-10-15

1. 1 1. The Watertown House - 11998-09-26Our 20th year on public television began with the renovation of a circa 1886 Victorian with a large circa 1915 rear addition, in the Boston suburb of Watertown, Massachusetts. Esse
2. 2 2. The Watertown House - 21998-10-03Our host opens the show with a visit to the Watertown Arsenal, now decommissioned and slated for redevelopment into office space. The highlight of the property is the Italianate Co
3. 3 3. The Watertown House - 31998-10-10The crew begins to dismantle the grand oak staircase as the house's new floorplan comes into focus - seen in a vitural-reality walkthrough, it calls for removing all three staircas
4. 4 4. The Watertown House - 41998-10-17As a professionally installed scaffolding system rises up to the roof ridge, landscape archtect Clarissa Rowe walks around the lot, assessing problems - mostly an overabundance of
5. 5 5. The Watertown House - 51998-10-24The landscape work begins with landscaper Roger Cook and arborist Matt Foti marking trees slated for pruning or renoval and Matt's crew relieving the yard of some of its overgrown
6. 6 6. The Watertown House - 61998-10-31The team's work to complete the reframing of the second floor starts with the use of engineered lumber, which makes for wide clear spans in the new kitchen area. Landscape architec
7. 7 7. The Watertown House - 71998-11-07The show opens with a walk along a newly restored natural corridor lining the banks of the Charles River in Watertown. The result of years of hard reclamation work by the Metropoli
8. 8 8. The Watertown House - 81998-11-14A Dig Safe representative is on site to explain the nonprofit organization's function: to notify all utilities of impending excavation so that they can mark buried lines. Out back,
9. 9 9. The Watertown House - 91998-11-21Entomologist and pest control contractor Steve Marken takes us on a termite-damage tour of the house, pointed out the conditions that led to the original infestation. Out back, Rog
10. 10 10. The Watertown House - 101998-11-28Roger Cook and Christian Bilodeau plant 30-foot evergreens as a screen in the backyard, using Christian's tree spade. Tom updates us on the project's progress: termite damage has n
11. 11 11. The Watertown House - 111998-12-05The This Old House team installs a zero-clearance fireplace with a handsome cast-iron firebox. Window rehabilitation specialist David Liberty shows us his method of refurbishing th
12. 12 12. The Watertown House - 121998-12-12A busy day on site: the back decking is coming along with a new undermount system. The insulation crew is hard at work inside spraying on foam insulation. Up top, Mark Schaub and h
13. 13 13. The Watertown House - 131998-12-19Exterior painting by Steve Kiernan and crew is underway out back, as is the erection of a white cedar combination fence and trellis along the driveway. In the kitchen, Fred Morgan
14. 14 14. The Watertown House - 141998-12-26The show opens with a plumbing and heating tour of the basement, with stops at: a pressure-reducing valve that steps down the incoming water pressure from 110 psi to a more useful
15. 15 15. The Watertown House - 151999-01-02A huge drywall goes in under the front lawn to handle water pumped out of the basement slump, and chimney specialist Mark Schaub and crew shows us the newly ""Rumfordized"" front p
16. 16 16. The Watertown House - 161999-01-09The This Old House team shop for lunch supplies at Eastern Lamejun Bakery, one of the oldest Middle Eastern grocery stores in the counrty. (The Watertown area is home to one of the
17. 17 17. The Watertown House - 171999-01-16Our host arrives on site to find the building's exterior nearly complete: the new paint scheme is on, the copper gutter system is complete, and Tommy and crew have finished the fro
18. 18 18. The Watertown House - 181999-01-23Our host arrives to find Roger Cook and crew installing sod on the front lawn, while inside painting contractor Steve Kiernan gives him a lesson on proper prep and priming in the m
19. 19 19. The Watertown House - 191999-01-30The final days of the Watertown project start with Richard Trethewey's tour of the completed kitchen, complete with stainless-steel cleanup sink, the completed baths, and the laund
20. 20 20. The Key West House - 11999-02-06Our host and master carpenter find paradise at the end of the famed U.S. Route 1 - Key West, Florida. Along the island's back streets they discover their latest renovation challeng
21. 21 21. The Key West House - 21999-02-13After catching the famous Mallory Square sunset the evening before, the This Old House team gets to work, first checking in with general contractor Roger Townsend to see the jobsit
22. 22 22. The Key West House - 31999-02-20The show opens at one of Key West's most popular destinations, Harry Truman's ""Little White House,"" where the President visited for many years after having originally been sent t
23. 23 23. The Key West House - 41999-02-27The show opens at Truman Annex, a planned community on land that was formerly Key West's naval station. Later in the show, we tour another planned community, the town of Celebratio
24. 24 24. The Key West House - 51999-03-06The show opens at Key West's biggest industries - cruise ships. The This Old House team takes a tour of Carnival's Ecstasy, in port for the day. Back at the house, a glazier cuts a
25. 25 25. The Key West House - 61999-03-13Just as they're getting used to all the sunshine, the crew realizes it's almost time to wrap up the Key West project. The activity on site is intense. Window installer Charles Malt
26. 26 26. The Key West House - 71999-03-20On our last day in Key West, viewers get a look at the new pool, its cleaning system and the heat pump that both heats and cools it. (Key Westers have to chill down their pools dur