♪♪
Kevin: On "Ask This Old House,"
our experts travel across the country
to answer questions about your house.
♪♪
Today, Mark helps a homeowner restore
their hundred-year-old firebox.
Then Lee and Jenn give their favorite tips
on transitioning your yard from spring to summer.
Plus, Tommy and I get some help organizing the workshop
from our Glen Ridge project general contractor,
Zack Dettmore.
How satisfying is that, huh? Tom: Very satisfying.
Kevin: Everything in its place.
Coming up next on "Ask This Old House."
♪♪
Ross: Indoor air chemistry is super, super complex.
We're talking about IAQ, right -- indoor air quality.
There's been a lot of research over water-quality standards
and the food-quality standards that we use --
and for good reasons, right?
But the air quality is the one
that's kind of been the third on that list.
And if you think about what we eat,
what we drink, and what we breathe,
if you're looking for an average person,
they ingest about 4 pounds of food every single day.
They drink about 8 pounds of water every single day.
But they breathe about 30 pounds of air a day.
And so I think it's about time that we start to focus more
on the air quality in our buildings.
I do a presentation called "The Unintended Consequences
of Building Airtight."
That whole idea is that, you know,
we build these awesome houses, we seal them up so well.
We've reduced their heating bills,
we've reduced their cooling bills,
but now you have the ultimate Petri dish
where you've stored and captured all these contaminants,
and it doesn't get to outside -- it's trapped.
So we have to ventilate for those buildings appropriately.
So let's make sure that you are now running your ventilation system,
so the bath fans... Man: Okay.
Ross: ...kitchen fans, et cetera.
Make sure you're running that because we want to get
that moisture out of the house.
People are definitely scared about indoor air quality
because it's kind of, like, this unknown thing, right?
It's kind of like the boogieman in a way.
You have this esoteric idea that, you know,
air quality is just, you know --
"If I can't smell anything, it's fine."
And so a lot of people don't really have
a full understanding of it.
But the way I think about it is that the data doesn't lie.
And if we can get these IAQ monitors, you know,
into people's houses, you know, we can start to get baselines.
We can start to understand how that building is performing
and how healthy that building is.
What we do is we typically pick like six or seven proxies
for indoor air quality.
So that could be carbon dioxide, like what we breathe out.
It could be particulate matter, like when we burn stuff.
VOCs -- like off-gassing of chemicals
from furniture and carpets.
Now, DIY, consumer-friendly devices
that measure those six things I talked about.
For people that are kind of scared about IAQ,
you know, I tend to push back to say,
you know, we don't know what we don't measure.
The analogy I give is, if you're gonna go to the doctor,
right, for some health issue,
what they're gonna do is gonna run some tests
to establish baselines and understand, you know,
where things are at, right?
We pick these six proxies as an example,
and we watch those over time, and that gives us the ability
to say, hey, if one of these goes, you know,
out of line and goes above a certain threshold
for a long period of time, we now know about it, number one,
so the information's there,
and then we can come up with a solution to solve that
or try to figure out why it rose, right?
So it shouldn't be scary. It should be used as,
hey, we're making sure that we have peace of mind
and we have healthy buildings to live in.
We design buildings for people, not the other way around,
so we want to make sure we get the ventilation, filtration,
source capture right,
and it's going to become more of an issue
when our buildings get tighter and tighter.
And so, you know, my kind of goal
is just to make people more aware of it
so that we can start to understand
what the air quality is like, and we can make sure
that these buildings are going to get healthier.
♪♪
Mark: Hey, Ryan. Ryan: Hey, Mark. How are you?
Mark: I'm doing great. Doing great.
Oh, I love the house. Ryan: Oh, thanks.
Mark: You wrote me about a fireplace?
Ryan: I did. Absolutely. Mark: Let's check it out.
Ryan: Let me show it to you. Mark: Great.
Ryan: So, we bought the house about five years ago,
and one of our favorite parts of the house
is this original 1888 fireplace.
Mark: Yeah! It's a built-in piece of art.
I'll tell you that. Ryan: Yeah, for sure.
So, you know, our favorite part really is this artistic tile.
And we've named these two children on the tile
Agnes and Rutherford. Mark: Alright, I love it.
Ryan: Yeah, so, it was originally
an 1880s coal-burning fireplace,
and I'm really glad that we could convert it to natural gas
and then keep that coal-type insert
to celebrate its original character.
So, we've put the gas insert in,
but we're a little bit afraid to turn it on, given
the state of this firebox. Mark: Okay.
Well, there are a couple of things
that I see right off the bat.
You can see the fire brick, of course, has a hole in it.
This top piece and the side pieces
were actually made in a form.
So you put the form on the ground,
you pour the material into it,
you smooth it off, you let it set up.
When you flip it over, you have these lines in the concrete.
That's going to mimic the jointing of a brick.
But the only thing that does worry me
is I know back in the day, 1880s,
they did use asbestos in some of the masonry materials.
So I may just grab that piece
and have it tested just to make sure that we're good to go.
Ryan: Yeah, for sure. Mark: Alright.
So let me grab this.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah. So it'll be good to test it.
Ryan: Okay. Fantastic. Mark: Let's go.
Ryan: Great. Thanks.
♪♪
Mark: Alright, Ryan.
Well, I think we got pretty lucky.
This tested negative for asbestos.
Ryan: Great news. Mark: Great news.
And this is the fire brick that I propose to use.
Anytime that I'm doing any type of repair work,
I always want to mimic existing.
It's not always as easy as it sounds.
Sometimes we're restricted by code,
which we are in fireboxes,
so we are predicated to use a fire brick.
This fire brick comes in two colors.
It's a red or it's this yellow.
As you can see, this yellow matches very nicely.
Ryan: Oh. Yeah. Mark: The size is
a little bit different, but I'm not worried about that
because I can use a saw and cut these brick
any way I want to mimic what we have.
Ryan: Great. So, what's different about fire brick?
Mark: So, this fire brick is made with what we call
refractory cement, and all it is is a heat-resistant cement.
So that's why it's code to put it into fireboxes.
Ryan: Okay. Mark: Alright.
So, why don't we move this coal basket,
and, that way, we can see exactly what we're going to do?
Ryan: Sounds good.
Mark: Okay, Ryan, so, in the spirit of
keeping the original integrity, these sidewalls look like
they're in pretty good condition,
so I think we'll leave those.
Obviously, the back wall, we can see the damage right now.
I can see that just wants to come.
Ryan: Wow. Mark: Right.
And, again, we have this major crack in the top piece,
so that's going to eliminate it for us
trying to use it again.
But when we take this piece out, we do have to be careful
because there is a damper on top of this firebox.
I'm not really sure just yet
on if it's tied in with this steel that holds this apron.
But as we get deeper into this...
you can see that it wants to come.
And instead of banging things around
with a hammer and a chisel, I think I'm just going to
try to twist them out.
Here we go. There we go. Okay.
♪♪
You get that piece. I have this one.
Ryan: Okay.
♪♪
[ Whirring ]
♪♪
Mark: Okay, Ryan, now that we have everything cleaned out,
we're going to do the layout
and, most specifically, the back wall.
Ryan: Great. Mark: So, during the demo,
we were able to save a few of the original pieces.
And, again, as discussed before, we always
want to be original whenever we can.
So we're going to take this brick.
We're gonna put it back there.
This is the other one we were able to salvage.
We're going to put that there.
And the reason I want to do that
is because the match for that brick is right there.
So we're going to take our modern-day fire brick.
And we'll go in the middle.
And that is basically what your back wall is going to look like.
To complete the layout, we're going to use a half brick here.
And then we're going to come back over.
And then we're going to tuck this brick in the back.
Like that.
And this creates what we call a running bond pattern.
And the bottom course is going to repeat on the third course.
That's gonna bring us to the height of our fluted fire brick.
And then the last two courses that we do,
we're going to tip in to give it the Franklin bend.
And the Franklin bend, don't forget, will throw the heat out.
And the first thing I'm gonna do --
I'm gonna ask you to do it -- is dip that brick
in that bucket of water.
Ryan: Okay. Mark: Real quick.
Ryan: Why do the bricks need to be wet?
Mark: So, these fire brick are so dry
that they'll extract the water that's in the mortar.
And once that happens, the mortar becomes very brittle.
Ryan: Oh. Mark: And our wall
will start to wave. Ryan: Oh. Okay.
Mark: So we want to pre-wet these brick.
I'll take that one, Ryan.
Again, I'm just going to line that up with existing.
♪♪
Make sure I'm plumb.
♪♪
Now, because this brick is in the middle of a course,
I'm gonna do my head joints before I slip that brick in.
And always very important to have full head joints.
Ryan: Oh. That's perfect. Mark: Yeah. Yeah.
♪♪
And we'll go to next course.
♪♪
Alright, Ryan, I think it's your turn.
Ryan: Alright. I'll give it a shot.
Mark: Feeling good? Ryan: Yeah.
Mark: Alright.
Spread that mortar. Exactly.
You can wiggle that into place, too, Ryan.
To get the Franklin bend in,
the last course we had to do was 5 1/2 inches all the way across.
And the Franklin bend will reflect the heat.
Alright, Ryan, what do you think?
Ryan: It looks wonderful. Thank you so much.
Mark: Alright. Great.
So, the only thing I'm gonna do
is leave you with a little bit of homework.
You can see that haze
that I already put on those yellow fire brick.
Well, in your jar is a little bit of ash and soot.
I have a damp rag in my hand.
And as you can see...
...darkening up the brick pretty good, right?
Ryan: Matches perfectly. That's great.
Mark: Yeah. Yeah. You can go darker if you like,
but I think you're doing pretty good right now.
But, anyway, I hope you enjoy.
Ryan: Perfect. Thank you so much for coming by.
I really appreciate it. Mark: Alright. Okay, Ryan.
Ryan: Thanks. Mark: Thank you for having me.
Ryan: See ya.
♪♪
Kevin: Hey, Jenn. Hey, Lee.
Jenn: Hey. Lee: Hi, Kevin. How you doing?
Kevin: I'm doing alright.
What are you guys kibitzin' about here?
Lee: What are you talking about?
[ Laughter ]
Jenn: Making a game plan. Lee: [ Laughs ]
That's a shot. No, we're talking about --
We're talking about going from spring into summertime now.
Kevin: Busy time of year. Jenn: Yes.
One of my favorite times.
Lee: Exactly. Kevin: What is on the list?
Lee: Well, mulch is one, always, okay?
And putting in your annuals, getting ready for that.
What do you think?
Jenn: Well, we've already done the cleanups,
you know, raked out all the debris from the winter.
People have mulched. Some people are waiting
for the pollen to finish coming down.
Lee: Preference.
Jenn: But this time of year is great.
Transitioning to spring to summer
to set up for lounge time in the summertime.
Kevin: Alright. So let's start with the beds, alright?
Can I have you do the beds?
Give me, like, the garden stuff that I got to be thinking about
because I'm ready for mulch. I want it in.
Lee: What you got to do is cut the beds in first.
Get a nice cut in, nice edge on everything,
and then probably put down a nice layer of mulch,
whether you prefer, like, a leaf mulch or a hemlock mulch.
Jenn: Yeah. Leaf mulch is great because it's composted leaves
and adds all the nutrients to the soil.
Kevin: I like a dark bark mulch. Like, a dark bark mulch.
Jenn: It is dark. You have to -- You have to give it a try.
Lee: And also maybe a little light pruning on plants that already flowered.
Kevin: Yeah, what gets pruned this time of year?
Lee: I like to do, like, rhododendrons, azaleas, lilacs.
Also I like to do the tulips that come up.
Kevin: Oh, you cut the bulb plants back.
Lee: Yes. Cut those back. But the daffodils,
we don't like to do because they like to grow --
They like to have their energy go back on the dead.
Jenn: Right. So tidy that up.
Clean what needs to be cut back,
any dead from the year before from the perennials.
And like we said, all the spring-blooming lilacs.
It's the best time of year
to shape them because later on in the season
you're gonna cut off the blooms for the next year.
Kevin: Right. Exactly. Jenn: So on the checklist.
And then also for -- We'll talk about lawns in a second.
I know. I feel it coming.
Another thing is if you have an irrigation system
or whatever kind of watering system you have,
once you get it all blown out and set up for the season,
you want to check all the heads,
make sure everything's working properly.
And then think of timing of watering
as the temperatures rise. Lee: Morning's the best time,
I think, and I like to do it early
so you get the lawn hydrated and your plants are hydrated.
Jenn: Yeah. Deep watering is better
than more frequent watering.
Kevin: Yeah. Alright. So on to the lawn.
On to the lawn! Jenn: Yep, yep.
Kevin: So, we put our first fertilizer down,
the pre-emergent. That was early spring.
Lee: Correct. Kevin: What are we doing now?
Lee: Now we're going to put down some nitrogen,
get it green, and some phosphorus.
So that will hold us through any stress
through the summer coming up. Kevin: Gotcha.
Now, I like to aerate. You guys are down with aerating, right?
Lee: Yes. Aerating is really good.
Kevin: Do you do that before
you drop that second fertilizer down, after? Does it matter?
Lee: You can do it before or after. Really doesn't matter.
But the issue is you want to get down that thatch layer
so you're getting some nutrients down
in that layer -- and oxygen.
Jenn: Yeah. Very important.
Kevin: So busy time, exciting time
for both of you guys. Jenn: Yeah.
Once it's done, you just sit back and watch it all grow.
Lee: Exactly. Jenn: It's so fun.
Kevin: Get on the patio and enjoy it. Thank you.
Jenn: Yeah. You're welcome. Lee: Thank you.
♪♪
Kevin: Hey, Tommy. Tom: Hey, Kevin. How are ya?
Kevin: Zack. Welcome to the shop.
Zack: Thanks for having me. Kevin: Yeah, well, it's been
a pleasure working with you down in Glen Ridge.
You're doing a great job on that house down there.
Tom: Doing a great job. Zack: I appreciate that.
Kevin: And, you know, we were thinking of you
because we did this project not that long ago
where we built the miter stand
but also some storage with the flanking cabinets.
And after seeing your truck down in Glen Ridge,
we were like, "What's wrong with this kid?"
Zack: I only do remodeling
so I can have the tools to organize.
It's just a side project.
Tom: My hat's off to your organization. That's for sure.
He's the organizer. I always want to be.
I have a vision, but I can't seem to do it.
Kevin: Yeah. Super-organized.
Zack: You're the kind of builder I want to be.
[ Laughter ]
Kevin: Well, we put you two together.
We've invited you up here, and we're thinking
you're just the guy to help us organize all of the tools.
We got a ton of stuff everywhere,
and now we have some new storage.
Tom: Big job. Kevin: I guess the first
question to you is, like, what do you think about?
Like, what's the number-one thing that goes to your head
when you see a mess like this?
Zack: So, the first thing I think about is, like,
big, bulky things.
So, in general, humans are lazy, right?
We're gonna be lazy.
So if something is hard or difficult
to put back in the correct spot, we're not gonna do it, right?
Tom: True. Zack: So make sure your ladders
and your miter saws are easy, like you have.
The vacuum's kind of bulky. That's right in the center.
So you've done that.
The next thing is essential tools should be in a location
that's easy to get to.
So whatever you're using the most -- pencils, tape measures,
hammers -- those should be high up, waist height,
not a lot of walking to get to them.
Kevin: Mm-hmm. Zack: And then the final thing
is putting the solution where the problem is.
So if you need a pencil and you're at the miter saw,
there should be pencils in that location
so you're not getting yourself all set up
then having to walk to a different location.
Tom: Yeah, you got a board, you want to mark it.
You don't want to be hunting for a pencil.
"Oh, it's right here -- right beside me."
Zack: Exactly. Tom: Makes sense.
Zack: Making it intuitive, basically.
If it works for you and Tommy,
then it'll work for anyone working in this space,
and it'll make more sense
for things to fall back to where they need,
and you can kind of group like tools together.
Tom: That's the trick, putting things back where they belong.
Zack: Yeah. Tom: That's my problem.
Doesn't seem to want to go back where I took it from.
Zack: So, there should be no will power.
Tom: Yeah, exactly.
Zack: We can't rely on will power.
We have to rely on the system
wanting things to go back where they belong.
Tom: Right. Kevin: So, in terms of --
I just heard group "like tools" together.
We've got a whole bunch of different things here.
We've got drivers. We've got hand tools.
We've got some saw stuff. Is that where we start?
Zack: Yeah, so, I would say
the hand tools you use most frequently,
we'll find where they go, the easiest-to-access place.
And then for something like table-saw-related tools,
we should put those close to the table saw.
And we can just sort of generally pull these things
into drawers, and then we'll see how quickly those drawers
are filling up and if we need to move things around
just for the sake of storage.
Kevin: Do a glue drawer? Yes.
Tom: Alright. Here's a little magnet. That's handy.
Zack: Well, that's good.
I made this our designated junk drawer.
If we have a spot
where miscellaneous things like this go,
then it'll keep the other drawers
we're trying to organize clear of useful tools
that we're not sure how to organize.
Tom: Sounds good.
Kevin: Ooh. Two more things for your glue drawer.
Zack: Oh. We're in full glue swing right now.
Kevin: Two-part epoxy. Zack: Whoa!
♪♪
Kevin: Okay. Looks like everything is kind of
grouped into their piles. Zack: Yeah.
Kevin: You know, with power tools in one area.
And I think the biggest drawer is the hand tools
here to the side. Zack: Right.
So, in general, I like to have the systems be modular
so you don't have to throw out the old system
and make a new one when you get one new tool.
But I think we know those hand tools you use all the time --
tape measure, pencils.
So I think it's safe for us to make a specific system
that keeps those things really organized.
And for that, we're going to use foam.
And it's sort of like just a different version
of having the peg board on the wall
that you trace around it to show where things go,
except we're gonna cut the shape out of the tool out in the foam.
♪♪
Kevin: It's like a crime scene for hand tools.
Zack: Yeah. Exactly. Kevin: [ Laughs ]
♪♪
Zack: This little tool.
Will make it easier to remove it from the foam.
Tom: Look at that.
Kevin: Boy, that looks good. How satisfying is that, huh?
Tom: Very satisfying. Kevin: Everything in its place.
Tom: Yeah. Kevin: Okay.
Dare we tackle bits and drivers, Zack?
Because this...
can be a nightmare.
Zack: It is totally a nightmare.
Because there's so many.
So, there's a couple of different ways
we can go about this.
Um, you've got some nice sets already that are well-organized,
so instead of us wasting a bunch of time
coming up with another system for this,
I say we just reuse those and throw them right in.
Tom: Yeah. Zack: But for items like this
that we have a various amount of different fasteners,
we can actually use extruded aluminum,
and we went with a profile of a "U" channel
because you can actually put something inside that
and use that as a primary container.
Tom: Perfect. Kevin: We applied some
magnetic tape to the back, which is pretty easy to get.
And so that'll actually just stick anywhere
at the bottom of this drawer,
and we can build containers any which way we want.
Tom: Any way you want.
Kevin: Oh, so this becomes a spot,
but also the cavity between becomes a spot.
Tom: Right. Zack: Exactly.
Tom: We can take this out to make it bigger or smaller,
whatever we need.
Zack: Yeah, so we'll try and take our best guess
at what's going to work for you guys.
But the nice thing is, because it's magnetic,
you can completely move things around
without having to throw it out or clean anything up.
Tom: I like it. Kevin: Really good. Okay.
So how do we tackle that?
Zack: So, you can cut these right on the miter saw.
So if you want to cut maybe two more to 9 3/8".
Tom: Okay. What I need to do, though,
is I need to stick some of this magnetic tape
on the piece first so when I cut it,
I'll cut the magnetic tape at the same time.
Kevin: All going on this front part?
Zack: I think minus-2 potentially.
[ Saw buzzing ]
Why don't we drop the bits in?
So, I would say we start with -- Phillips is the most common.
♪♪
Kevin: Does this just calm your little organizational heart
here, getting everything right?
Zack: Yes. [ Chuckles ]
Yes, it does. Kevin: Right?
Zack: I'm quite satisfied right now.
Tom: Alright. That looks beautiful. What a difference.
Kevin: Yeah, it makes a huge difference.
Nice to have those finally organized.
And I got to admit, Zack. It's oddly satisfying.
Why did I enjoy that so much?
Tom: I kind of enjoyed it, too.
It was fun. Kevin: What is that?
Zack: I don't know. I think that's how you know it's a successful project.
Like, if you're relying on will power and discipline
to put things in the right spot, that's not gonna happen.
But if it's fun and satisfying, things are gonna fall back
to where you wanted them to be in the first place.
Kevin: Alright. Tom: Yeah, I think it made
a big difference, and I know we have more to do, so...
We got to get into the organizing thing.
You're gonna have to come back.
Zack: Alright. I'll come back again.
Kevin: Come back and join us.
We appreciate you coming this time,
and we really look forward to finishing up that project
in Glen Ridge with you. Tom: Yeah. Absolutely.
Zack: Yeah. It's gonna be fun. Kevin: So until next time,
I'm Kevin O'Connor... Tom: I'm Tom Silva.
Zack: And I'm Zack Dettmore.
Kevin: For "Ask This Old House."
Tom: Alright. So we got like six more drawers to do.
Then we gotta deal with this mess here.
Zack: Oh. This is gonna be a doozy.
♪♪
Kevin: Next time on "Ask This Old House"...
everything is rosy in Portland
as Jenn visits the Rose Test Garden
to find the perfect flower variety for a homeowner.
Jenn: When this all fills together,
this is gonna be a wall of color.
Kevin: Then Nathan helps a homeowner
repair some bathroom tiles.
And we have a little fun with the cast
as we see how well we know our fans.
All that on "Ask This Old House."