♪♪
Kevin: On "Ask This Old House,"
Our experts travel across the country
to answer questions about your house.
♪♪
Today, Mauro shows how playing with shades of color
can brighten a dark space.
Mauro: I know this is going to look very nice here.
Kevin: And do you struggle with water in your basement?
Richard and Mark answer some common questions
about this problem.
Plus on "Build It," Tom makes a bat house
that can support the ecosystem of these beneficial creatures.
All that next on "Ask This Old House."
♪♪
Kevin: Hey, Jenn. Hey, Tommy.
Tom: Hey, Kevin. Jenn: Hey.
Kevin: What are you guys working on?
Tom: Well, I'm looking at a website from the state.
Talks about bats and bat houses.
Kevin: Running out of projects, Pops? Bat houses?
Tom: I'm thinking about it. Jenn: They're very important
to the ecosystem. Right?
So they are a natural pest control
right here in Massachusetts.
They do an amazing job culling down the mosquito population.
Kevin: You do see them sort of zinging around.
Jenn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And at night there's certain,
like, beetles and moths that eat crops.
So they also help out with that -- natural pest control.
Kevin: So pest control. They're hungry buggers, huh?
Jenn: Yes. And they're also great pollinators.
They go for -- In the desert and tropical areas,
they love to feed off of fruit trees.
So the blooms that open at night, they go in,
they pollinate, and they move on to the next.
So very important. Kevin: Wow.
Jenn: And another important fact -- the agave plant.
They depend on bats for their pollination.
Kevin: Ooh. And from the agave plant, we get tequila.
Jenn: Tequila. Kevin: Nectar of the gods.
Jenn: Yep. So they help out financially
across the board with crops and everything, so...
Kevin: I'm completely coming around the bats, Pops.
Tom: They're party animals.
Kevin: Bat shots.
So you're thinking a bat house.
Tom: So I'm thinking of a bat house.
It looks like a pretty simple project.
I can get some different ideas and work on it.
And I think eventually we can sit around
and build a bat house. Kevin: Alright.
Well, maybe if you work on a plan,
I'll check back later and we'll see how we can do.
Jenn: Maybe you can build me one.
Tom: No, I'm only building one, Jenn.
Don't be pushy. Jenn: Come on.
♪♪
Mauro: I'm on my way to help a homeowner
to brighten up a dark room in the house.
But in this case, if you don't have any
or much of a natural light,
the first thing I will suggest is I paint the ceilings, trim,
and doors with a brighter color,
maybe like a white or one of those off-whites.
And then the walls,
you can use a little bit of color, but not too dark.
When you bring a light color into a room,
you're going to make a lot of more enjoyable space
and a much more comfortable room
that you can enjoy anytime during the day or the evening.
♪♪
Hi, Molly. Molly: Hi.
Mauro: Nice to meet you. Molly: Nice to meet you.
Come on in. Mauro: Alright.
I know you want to do some paint around your place here.
Molly: Yes, and I need help choosing a color.
Mauro: Alright. Cool.
Molly: So, I moved in here about a year ago,
and I don't get a lot of natural light.
Mauro: Okay. Oh, it's that? Look at that.
Molly: Yeah. And so I want to brighten up the space,
and I don't really like neutral colors.
And I really like to have color. Mauro: Okay.
Beautiful.
I noticed that you have three different colors there.
And which one do you like the best?
Molly: My favorite is this blue. Mauro: Okay.
This is gonna look fantastic.
I like that blue throughout the space.
But I also notice the ceiling is not bright white.
Are you planning to do any work with the ceiling
and the walls at the same time? How is that going to work?
Molly: I'm planning to paint the ceiling white eventually.
Mauro: Okay, but first you want to do the walls?
Molly: Right. For right now, just the walls.
Mauro: Alright. I also notice the wall
there in that corner doesn't have much light breaking it.
Molly: Yes. So that's part of what I've been struggling with,
that the color looks so different on
each side of the room. Mauro: Okay.
Got it. So here's what I propose
that I'm going to do for you. It's got this color.
And we're going to make four different samples
from the same color -- same color, different shades.
And maybe one of them will work perfect for that
compared to this area here.
Molly: And will that have it look
the same color all around the room?
Mauro: It's going to look slight different.
That's going to be a slight lighter there
because not enough light in there.
Okay? So we can try them.
And once you be happy with the one you like, we'll go to work,
you and I. Molly: Okay.
Mauro: Alright. I'm going to get the samples.
Be right back. You and I, we have a lot of work to do.
Molly: Okay. Sounds good.
♪♪
Mauro: Molly, here we go. We have four
different shades of blue -- 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25%.
I'll hold this up. I know this is going to look very nice here.
It's going to do the work for us,
but the other walls is the trickier one.
Let's check that one out.
Okay. Let's try these colors here, Molly.
Here we have the 100% formula. What do you think?
Molly: I think it's too dark on this side.
Mauro: Too dark with that. I agree.
So okay, that's too dark.
Now we have the 75% formula.
Molly: That's much better over here.
Mauro: Much better. But not there yet?
Molly: No. Mauro: Alright. Cool.
Alright. Now we have the 50% formula.
Molly: That's even better.
Mauro: That's even better. We're getting there.
Okay, now we have one more. Molly: Yeah.
Mauro: This is the lightest one, is the 25%.
Molly: Yeah, I think that's too light.
Mauro: Too light, okay.
That doesn't work for us with the wall here.
Molly: So it's either 50% or 75%.
Mauro: 50% or 75%. Alright, okay.
We have the 75% formula on my right.
And then we have the 50% on my left. Alright?
So which one do you feel like is going to do better for us here?
Molly: I think the 50% is better.
Mauro: The 50%? 75% won't do it? Molly: No.
Mauro: Alright. I agree with you. Let's do it this way now.
Molly: Yeah. That looks great.
Mauro: Right there? Molly: Yeah.
Mauro: I think that's going to look fantastic.
I think we got our color. Molly: Okay.
Mauro: Alright.
Well, before we paint, we do some prep work to do.
Here we go.
We're going to move the furniture,
outlet covers we're going to remove.
Going to go all the way to the bottom here.
Alright.
We're going to tape the baseboards
and we'll drop-cloth the floors,
protect the floors, and we're ready to paint.
♪♪
Well, now you notice you and I, we protect everything.
Now it's time to paint. Molly: Okay.
Mauro: Okay? We're going to start with the 100 first.
Molly: Okay. Mauro: And then we go to the 50.
Molly: Okay. Do we need to prime the walls?
Mauro: We don't need to prime
really because the walls is a very good shape.
It has been painted before.
So we can go straight with paint.
Molly: Okay. Mauro: Ready to go?
Molly: Let's go. Mauro: Let's have some fun.
Just give it a longer stroke. Okay?
There we go. Nice.
♪♪
Go all the way down in one stroke.
Here we go. Perfect.
♪♪
Ah.
♪♪
Molly: Hey, it looks like we're done with the 100.
Mauro: This looks perfect. Looks nice.
We're wrapping with the 100. Let's start the 50.
Molly: Okay, let's do it.
♪♪
Mauro: Well, both colors, first coat is done. Let's let it dry.
We'll come back for the second and final coat of it.
Alright? Molly: Okay. Sounds good.
Mauro: Alright. First coat is dry.
Let's get on with the second coat.
Molly: Okay. Mauro: We're gonna do the same
way as we did the first coat.
We're going to cut. We're going to roll.
And we keep going. Alright? Molly: Okay.
Mauro: Well, Molly, look at this.
Molly: It looks good. Mauro: Amazing.
Second coat is dry to the touch. You know what time it is?
Molly: It's time to clean up?
Mauro: Remove the tape. Let's go.
I'll show you how to do it, and then you get to take it over.
Okay? So just lift the bottom.
Give the tape like a 45-degree angle.
Go just like this. Molly: Okay.
Mauro: Nice and easy.
Alright? Just like that. Alright, take it over.
And I will start this end over here.
Molly: How long should you leave the tape on?
Mauro: Second coat is dry to touch it,
time to remove the tape.
What happens is, if you wait too long,
some paint might come with it when you remove the tape.
And we don't want that, right? Molly: Right.
Mauro: There we go. Perfect. Wow, Molly, look at this room.
What do you think? Molly: It looks great.
Mauro: Remember that dark side of the walls there?
Molly: Yeah. It's so much brighter now.
Mauro: It looks beautiful.
Well, any more projects, let me know.
I'll be happy to come here and help you again.
Molly: Thank you. Mauro: Thank you. Molly.
♪♪
Kevin: Hey, Mark. Hey, Richard. Richard: Hey, there.
Mark: Hey, Kevin. Kevin: Just the two gentlemen
we need to talk to. Richard: Hope so.
Kevin: Wet basements -- probably the most frequent
question we get from viewers.
And it seems like you two are those guys that help us out,
figure out how to keep our basements dry.
Mark: Right. Alright, well, two different ways
the water can come in from the outside.
No gutter, downspout is in the wrong position, come in.
go right through the foundation.
The second way is water
rises through that concrete floor in the basement.
Kevin: Only two ways? Richard: It makes me think
of what an old-time sailing captain taught me.
He said a house is nothing but a poorly built boat
so firmly run aground, you wouldn't dare pull her off.
And it's a question of can you keep the water out of this boat,
which is our house? And that's the challenge.
Kevin: So let's talk about keeping --
If it's that surface water,
if it's sort of coming down from you say gutters,
roofs and stuff like that... Mark: Right.
Kevin: Thoughts on how we manage that?
Mark: So, if we have new construction, easy enough.
All we do is run a perforated pipe
all the way around the foundation.
That cuts out to a dry well. The water gets collected
and ends up in the dry well and dissipates.
Kevin: Right. Harder to do if it's not new construction.
Mark: Exactly. You have trees, bushes,
the whole nine yards right in front of the foundation.
So expensive to dig and really not cost-effective.
Kevin: So if it's not new construction
and we don't want to go through the expense
and cost of digging a trench on the outside,
what are we doing to keep the basement dry?
Mark: So take the French drain and put it inside.
What we do at that point is we dig
around the perimeter of the foundations.
We cut the concrete at 12 inches out,
we break that up, we dig down about 12 inches.
We replace that with 12 inches of gravel.
But in the middle of that gravel,
we put this perforated pipe, and you can see those holes.
That's going to take in the water.
This water comes out of one corner,
goes all the way around the foundation
ends up in the same corner, and...
Richard: That all goes to what they call a sump,
which is fundamentally the same as a bilge on a boat.
So once you have a sump or a bilge,
you're going to need some mechanical pump to get it out.
The original sump pumps that we always have used,
used to have a motor that sat up in the air space,
and then a tube down to a volute and a long float.
Nowadays we see more and more of these submersible ones.
Submersible has a float switch right here
that will activate at about 9 1/2 inches,
and it'll shut off at about 4 inches,
thereby leaving water in the bottom of the sump,
which seems counterintuitive,
but this is actually a cast-iron volute with an impeller inside,
and they want to keep this moist or wet
so that it doesn't dry out and rust.
And so it's with intention.
The other thing is this is a submersible.
So it's underwater, so it'll run cooler and quieter.
But once you live and die by this sump pump, you know,
and you need it, you got to worry about
what happens if the power goes away.
Kevin: Yeah, sure. Richard: This is a 12-volt
backup and has a different type of sensor.
The operating float switch for this backup pump
would be mounted in such a position
that it would be higher than the float activation point
for the regular 110-volt sump, so if this ever failed,
the water would continue to rise,
make this switch and bring this on through the battery,
and that means you might get 10 to 20 hours of pump,
just enough to get you through that power interruption.
Kevin: Right. Richard: Another important
detail about installations --
we see this all the time -- This is your best friend.
This is an important device called a check valve.
Now, a check valve has a little flapper inside of it right here.
Okay? And what happens is, if it didn't --
if it wasn't installed,
that pump and/or that pump would come on and it would pump
and it would go out 30, 40, 50 feet to outside.
And when it's shut off, what would happen?
All the water in that pipe would fall back to the pits,
fill the sump again, activate the thing.
So literally it would be a perpetual motion machine
on and off all the time.
So this check valve is critically important
to make sure you don't burn out the pipe.
Kevin: Gotcha. So if I walk into a basement
and I see a sump pump, I'm thinking,
"Ah, I got a wet basement." You know, avoid at all costs.
Is this a bad sign to have it down there in the basement?
Mark: So, I think that's the misconception of the day.
Back when I was a young guy,
people would come in and buy a house.
If they saw a sump pump, they were gone.
Today, I look at a sump pump and I say, "Okay,
water table is the water table,
but you're handling the situation."
Sometimes you can't build these houses high enough,
so they have to be where they have to be.
You have a sump pump.
Again, you've taken care of the problem.
Kevin: This tells you at least you thought it through
and you've got a way to deal with it.
Mark: Exactly. Richard: Some people are
so desperate to have a finished basement
that they'll actually use this too,
which is this rubberized or plasticized material
on this side of some strand board.
And so now at least you've got a place
you can have a dry floor to build off.
Mark: Right. And I'm also going to add that this system
that I'm talking about is a cure-all.
It actually -- This perforated pipe
is actually going to grab that water
before it hits the bottom of your concrete floor
and then again shift it to that point.
Richard: No water underneath it. Mark: That's right.
Richard: Right. Kevin: I knew you guys were
the right guys to talk to. Richard: That's right.
Kevin: Absolutely. Richard: We'll be here
in the basement. Mark: Yeah.
Kevin: Or on a boat. Everything's a boat to you.
♪♪
So, bat houses, huh, Tommy?
Tom: Yeah. I thought we'd make a bat house
for those little critters that fly around the backyard.
But it's important the material we use.
First of all, we're going to use a 2x4.
But we want to make sure that it's not
a pressure-treated 2x4
because you don't want the bats to ingest that chemical.
Kevin: So you picked up some what, some cedar?
Tom: This is a cedar. It's a little pricey.
I mean, you could use a conventional 2x4,
but that 2x4 will rot over time a lot faster than that will.
Kevin: Nothing's too good for the bats.
Tom: Exactly.
And we're going to use a rough plywood
because you want something that they can cling to.
So this is an exterior-grade CDX, 3/4 inch thick.
Alright? So that should last long.
And it's also important that we use a water-based paint
because we don't want any of those oil chemicals
getting to the bats. And we want to paint it black.
The reason we want black is because the sun will heat it up,
keeping the bats warm during the day.
Kevin: Oh, that's nice. Tom: Isn't that nice?
And we use exterior screws and a little bit of caulking.
That's actually also an adhesive
for where the roof meets the back.
We want to fill that crack so the water
doesn't leak and get the bats wet.
Kevin: Got the materials. Looks like you got a plan.
I guess we're good to go. Tom: Ready to start cutting.
Alright, I want to cut the 2x4 for the sides.
I'm going to cut a rough length first.
I set my saw at 20 degrees, and now I'm ready to cut.
[ Saw whirring ]
Alright, so now if I take my two pieces
that both have a 20-degree angle on them,
line them up, take my tape measure,
and I bring it to the shot point of the angle, run it out,
and I mark 21 for my length and make a cut.
[ Saw whirring ]
Now both pieces are the same length.
Okay, so we cut a 4x8 sheet in half.
So it's 4x4. The first thing I want to do
is cut two pieces, 15x24, out of it.
So we'll make it the 15 first...
here...
and here.
[ Saw whirring ]
These pieces will serve as the front, back,
and partitions of the bat house.
[ Saw whirring ]
Now we got to cut the back and the front.
[ Saw whirring ]
Now I'll have to cut those to 11 1/2.
So we've marked the angle for the pitch of the roof
for our two interior baffles.
Kevin: So sitting inside the frame of this house, Tommy,
there's basically two vertical pieces
that sort of create partitions? Tom: Two dividers.
And the spacing is a little over 5/8 inch.
Kevin: Yeah.
[ Saw whirring ]
Tom: Next thing I want to do is cut the front.
Now this piece will be a little bit wider,
but the angle is still the same.
[ Saw whirring ]
Now we're almost ready to put our pieces together.
But before we do that, we want to make a place
for the bats to grab on to when they land.
So I'm going to put a series of grooves right across the bottom.
So when they hit it, basically they can grab on
as they walk up inside.
[ Saw whirring ]
That should do it.
Kevin: It's like a bat ladder. Tom: Yeah.
Alright, we're almost ready to assemble it,
but let's dry-fit all of our pieces first.
This will be the bottom.
This is where the bats will land.
And they'll crawl up inside. You like that?
Crawl up inside. Kevin: [ Laughs ]
Tom: Alright, so we put one of our sides together right here.
That's the roof pitch like that.
We'll take a filler or just a scrap piece of wood
and put it there. One on the bottom.
That's the space that the bats will crawl in.
Place one here.
And make it even on the bottom.
A couple more scraps.
One more baffle goes in.
Just like that.
Kevin: So you can see how they come up through the bottom.
Tom: They come up through the bottom.
Now, if you notice that we've kept the baffles
down from the top edge of the 2x4,
and that's to create a space, so if the bats want to,
they can climb up in any one of these spaces,
climb up and go back down.
Climb up and go back down, whatever they want to.
They can climb up here and then go down.
Kevin: Hang out with their friends.
Tom: Yeah, exactly.
So when we put the front on,
you'll see that there's three spaces and the front goes even
with the top of the 2x4s when we put our roof on.
And once we place the roof on,
you can actually see that space also created a nice space
for the bats to wander around inside.
And that'll keep the water out and keep them nice and dry.
Second piece for the front.
We keep it down with about 1/4 inch space
that lets the air circulate when it gets really hot.
We'll keep the interior partitions
down about 1/4 inch from the top to create a space
so that the warm air can exit through the top
and the cool air can come in through the bottom.
♪♪
Before we put the front and back on,
I want to put a bead of caulking around the exterior
to make sure the inside of the house stays watertight.
♪♪
Kevin: Want a bead there?
Tom: I'm going to try to pre-drill some holes first
because I know this might split if we don't.
♪♪
Now you're going to put that on there. We'll center it.
♪♪
Two vent holes on each side just to let the air circulate.
The bat house is now ventilated.
♪♪
There you go. Kevin: That is a pretty
good-looking bat house, Tommy.
Tom: And it's a good size. Kevin: It's huge.
It's for like three bat families.
Tom: Yeah, well, how big are the families?
Kevin: I have no idea.
Alright, well, when I put this in my yard -- thank you,
by the way -- any suggestions on where I put it?
Tom: Well, I guess you can put it almost anywhere,
but they recommend that you put it up relatively high
to keep it away from predators.
And also, the bats could use that space
when they swoop down to get flight.
Kevin: Very nice.
Okay, well, the kids are going to be psyched.
There are going to be fewer mosquitoes
in the backyard this summer.
Alright. Thank you, Tommy. Nice job.
Tom: My pleasure. Thanks for all your help.
Kevin: Alright. Plenty more coming up,
so be sure to join us next time. Until then, I'm Kevin O'Connor.
Tom: And I'm Tom Silva. Kevin: For "Ask This Old House."
I guano [gonna] put this in my backyard.
Tom: "I guano," oh, my gosh. Kevin: I guano.
Tom: Been thinking about that all day, haven't you?
Kevin: Eh.
Kevin: Next time on "Ask This Old House"...
Lee improves the soil conditions of a garden space
that takes it from dreary to dreamy.
Then we meet a painter whose passion for the trades
inspires those who work around her.
Stephanie: I love what I do. I want to provide
the best product for people, and I think that comes across.
Kevin: And Heath installs a bathroom vent for a homeowner
in an old house with some vintage wiring.
All that on "Ask This Old House."