Carpenter Nathan Gilbert takes us through his journey from child to carpenter to cast member on the Ask This Old House team. Nathan explains who his biggest influences were, and how he first gained experience in the trade. As a proud military veteran, Nathan explains his call to duty, how he spent his time in the US Navy, and the doors that experience opened for him. Nathan got his start in carpentry at a very young age....
In this video, This Old House host Kevin O’Connor illuminates the key steps to lighting up an entryway. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time Steps for Installing an Entry Light: Turn off the electricity to the circuit at the main electrical panel. From inside the attic, nail a junction box to the side of a ceiling joist. Bring the existing switch cable into the junction box, then run a new cable into the box....
Insulation has come a long way. These days you can stuff your walls with everything from recycled blue jeans to soy-based foam to keep temps comfortable year-round. But if you live in an older home with insulation installed before you moved in, understanding what pads your walls is essential to keeping your family safe—especially if your spring to-do list includes cleaning the attic or renovating it. Here’s what you need to know about three common old house insulations....
Steps: Use a hose or another bendable material to outline the shape of the garden. Jenn recommends playing off features of the house and allowing the garden to go far away from the house for added depth. Once the garden has the right shape, use some spray paint to mark the lines. Dig out the grass and weeds in the area using the grub hoe. For the edges, cut down using the edging shovel....
In this video, This Old House general contractor Tom Silva explains how to fix a door jamb. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time Steps for repairing a split door jamb Unscrew and remove the old metal storm-door frame from the doorway opening. Carefully remove broken, split pieces of wood from bottom of the side jamb. Pull off any small splinters. Apply carpenter’s glue to broken wood pieces and glue them back onto the jamb....
This article appeared in the Fall 2021 issue of This Old House Magazine. Click here to learn how to subscribe. Shown above: To give the house a traditional look and soften the existing gable, Troyer added a front porch. A new garage provides living space upstairs and a mudroom downstairs. A second gable over the rebuilt garage balances the original one placed over the entry. My house is not your classic Cape Cod,” says Joan Beaulieu of her home in Rye, NH, built by her father, a general contractor, in 1953....
In your experience, how important is surface prep to the outcome of your finished project? NS: It’s almost a cliché at this point: Preparation is the most important part of a painting project. But I’ve been a craftsman for more than 25 years now, and I can tell you, without question, that the biggest difference between a pro paint job and an amateur paint job is the willingness and thoroughness of prep....
Like clockwork, each fall as the first batch of leaves fall, towns and neighborhoods roar awake with the sound of gas-powered leaf blowers. It’s the annual battle of weekend warriors versus the leaves—and you know what’s at stake: not only is the debris an eyesore and a nuisance, especially if your leaves blow onto your neighbor’s clean lawn but if you stall, a mantle of snow might cover them and smother the grass....
A jackhammer is a powerful demolition tool that’s used to break up hard surfaces like asphalt, brick, and tile. Many consumers view jackhammers as a loud and uncontrollable tool reserved for construction workers and other professionals, but these tools can come in more compact and manageable designs that are suitable for the handy homeowner. While professional-grade jackhammers derive their power from compressed air, DIY-friendly jackhammers utilize electricity. Electric jackhammers are easier to control than their pneumatic counterparts and come in a variety of sizes to fit jobs both large and small....
When restoring an older home, you’re apt to discover many dings and dents in the woodwork. Even hardwoods like oak or walnut suffer damage over time. In order to make a strong repair that lasts, it’s important to use the appropriate product. The wrong one can easily result in more damage than you currently have. So the question is: Should you reach for the wood filler or the wood putty to fix that crack in the baseboard?...
Home insurance policies play a major role in protecting your finances. When unfortunate, unexpected incidents like fires, theft, or vandalism occur, your home insurance company will help cover the costs of repairs and replacements. Your policy will also help cover the costs of replacing your damaged items, living away from your home, and more. But selecting the best home insurance company for you can be difficult. There are many home insurance companies that offer service in Jacksonville, Florida, but they can vary in terms of coverage, cost, quality of customer service, and more....
In this video, landscape contractor Jenn Nawada shares some facts about her favorite plant, the Japanese Maple. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time What are Japanese Maples? Also known as an acer palmatum, Japanese Maples are beautiful, ornamental, deciduous trees that come in a variety of colors and shapes. They feature red, spiked foliage and grow to about 10-20 feet tall. Where do Japanese Maples Grow? Japanese Maples are non-natives to the United States—they originated in Japan, the Korean Peninsula and China, and enjoy being planted in partial shade and grow in zones 5-8....
Maybe you have a new stone patio and want to open a sunny passageway from the living room. Or you’d like to see your garden from the kitchen while also ushering in more light and air. When the French crossed doors with windows back in the 1600s, they had something similar in mind. Exported to North America a century later, pairs of the multipaned doors could be flung open to catch a breeze in summer while inviting in the sun year-round....
General contractor and expert woodworker Tom Silva meets past guest and young woodworker Camila in her dad’s shop where they catch up since they last met. After checking out some of Camila’s work, the two discuss her need for a workspace of her own. With a worktable in mind, Tom invites her back to the workshop to help with the special project. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time How to Build a Workbench Cut four 2x4s and four 2x3s for the bench’s legs....
Steps Start out with a lower number grit sandpaper, like 60 or 80, depending on the material being sanded, and do multiple passes. Increase the grit with each new pass. Don’t skip grits. If you start at 80, you should go to 100 next, then 120, etc. Skipping grits will force the higher grits to work harder to smooth out the material, so it ends up wasting more time than just committing to each interval....
Folding fitted sheets can be a challenge. Take your freshly-laundered linens from lumpy to lovely with this tutorial from Crane & Canopy. It is our “Best of the Web” pick of the week! You are just a few steps away from a more organized linen closet. Get started: Step 1_Find your four corners (0:12). Sounds simple but this is key to giving your sheet a foldable shape. Step 2_Hold sheet inside out by top two corners, as shown (0:23)....
Concrete consists primarily of cement, sand, gravel and water. As the water in the slurry evaporates, the remaining ingredients cure into a hard, monolithic slab. Unfortunately, the curing process causes the concrete to shrink slightly, often resulting in hairline cracks. Do Cracks in Walls Indicate a Structural Problem? Larger stress cracks occur when a house settles or the ground beneath it shifts. These types of cracks typically don’t threaten the structural integrity of the house, but they do create an entry point for groundwater, insects and radon gas....
Use the form below to send us a question about repairing or maintaining your home. We’ll choose questions to be answered on an episode of Ask This Old House, in an issue of This Old House Magazine, in an episode of the Ask This Old House Podcast, or on ThisOldHouse.com. A few questions will be selected for an on-camera house call from one of our experts. Due to the volume of questions we receive, we can’t individually answer questions that are not selected by our producers....
With a bedroom renovation, what’s luxe got to do with it? The answer: A lot, if waking up in a forever staycation is your goal. One of the best luxury pieces you can splurge on is your mattress, the crown jewel of the bedroom. The best part: Unlike aspiring to own a luxury car, owning a luxury mattress is a purchase well within reach for most budgets. Affiliate Disclosure But just because a mattress calls itself luxury doesn’t mean it’s the ideal bed for you....
Secure and Elegant Karen over at The Art of Doing Stuff was gifted a box of baby chicks. Naturally, an impressive DIY chicken coop was on the horizon. This elegant design was constructed with built-in storage. All the doors have “double security features” to keep wildlife out. Affordable lanterns are the perfect finishing touch. Read more about this chicken coop at The Art of Doing Stuff. You can read about the building process and you can even see The Coop at Christmas....
