-[Dave] Hey. Hey, you're here. -[kids] Hey.
-[Dave] I got everything set up. -Yeah.
-You ready to change the oil on your mom's car? -[Luke] Yep.
Okay. Grab some gloves.
So, growing up, my dad,
he wore a lot of hats.
Four kids, he was a mechanic, he built homes,
he was in the military, and he taught auto mechanics.
-[Luke] Ah. -You don't want to get oil all over your hands.
All right, so, safety, we got the jack stand under there.
-Come under here. -Okay.
-[Charlotte] Ow! -[Dave] Ow!
[Dave laughing]
Okay, come here. I'll show you one at a time, okay?
I just feel like even if my kids don't end up
changing their own oil or their brakes,
they should have a general knowledge
of how to work on an automobile.
[Dave] Okay, you guys see that right there?
-That nut right there? -[Charlotte] Yeah.
[Dave] That is the drain plug.
And then right next to it is the oil filter.
And we're gonna start draining this oil, okay?
It comes out like--
There we go. I got it all over my glove.
[Charlotte] Ugh.
My dad taught me how to change oil when I was a kid.
-He did? -Mm-hmm.
-Do you remember still? -Nope.
-I hope mine do. -[both chuckle]
Did you know we're gonna renovate Malachi's house?
Ben, you met Malachi in kindergarten.
-Do you remember that? -Yeah.
Today, we're going to see Jodi and Philip Rule.
[Dave] Yep.
[Jenny] Their son is really good friends with our boys,
but now we're gonna renovate their house.
Thanks for your help.
[Jenny] Come on, Dave. Pick up the pace.
Hello!
-I'm sorry, I'm kind of sweaty. -Don't apologize.
-How's it going? -[Jodi and Jenny laughing]
[Dave] What's up, man?
-Hi. -Good to see you.
[Jenny] Yay, we're here!
What made now the time to renovate?
So, Philip is deploying this year...
Okay.
...and while he's out, my parents are gonna come move in with us.
[both] Okay.
So we really need a fourth bedroom
to accommodate them comfortably.
-[Jenny] Okay. -And so we're wanting to move the boys around
and open up the space that the boys are in right now.
-Okay. -Oh, okay.
So that my parents could stay in the back corner of the house.
-My name is Philip Rule. -And I'm Jodi Rule.
We have three children. Malachi, Emmy, and Eli.
[Philip] So we bought our house in 2013.
[Jodi] As soon as we walked in, we fell in love with it.
We knew that's where we wanted to raise our children.
To me, our home now is limited with space.
I believe with Dave and Jenny, they'll be able to remodel the house
and make it more usable.
-Okay. -Okay, so how many deployments is this?
This will be number four.
Do you know how long you'll be gone, or you don't know?
It'll be about nine to eleven months.
Oh, my gosh.
I didn't know it was that long. Wow!
[Philip] It's very difficult to be gone on a deployment,
but this renovation gives me ease
knowing that everything is gonna be taken care of for my family.
So what are you guys planning to spend on the renovation?
$180,000.
-Okay. -Okay.
-We can do a lot with that. -That's good.
All right, so let's start with outside.
What about the brick? Do you like the brick? Do you wanna paint it?
[Jodi] We like the brick, but we like white.
The texture of it is really good but the...
Like, the orange-y is a little bit dated.
[Jenny] I like the archway, too, for the entrance. It's cute.
So we can embrace that. Get you a new front door.
-[Jodi] Love it. -[Philip] Awesome.
New lighting maybe?
[Jodi] It could definitely use some help.
I've tried to keep the shrubberies alive,
but it's been kind of difficult.
So if we could get a little help on that,
-that'd be nice. -[Dave and Jenny] Okay.
There's a lot of landscaping that needs to be updated at our house too.
She just tells me that all the time.
You had to bring that up right away.
It's a sore subject.
It's definitely low maintenance.
[Jenny] Okay. Low maintenance, easy landscaping.
Okay, so the plan outside
is really just to refresh and update the entire exterior.
You want it lightened up
so we're gonna paint the brick.
Maybe we add some shutters to make it a little more cozy, add a little bit of contrast.
We'll add a wooden front door,
-definitely update the landscaping, the lighting. -[Dave] Yeah.
[Jenny] Really just make it welcoming.
Low maintenance for you but beautiful and updated.
-[Jodi] Love it. -Awesome.
[Jenny] Okay? Should we go in?
This is where all the real work is happening, right?
-[Jodi] Yeah. -Inside, right?
-All right. -Okay, let's go we'll follow you.
Okay.
Should we start in the boys room?
'Cause that's the biggest piece
-that we gotta figure out, right? -[Jodi] Yeah.
-Okay, we'll follow you. -We'll follow you guys.
Okay.
[Jodi] This is the boys room, so when you drop off Malachi, this is where he's running to.
-[Jenny] All right. -[Dave] Oh, yeah.
-Okay, so both boys are in here... -Yes.
...and you wanna move them somewhere else?
Across the house.
Okay, so you want your parents to be able to stay and this is the guest room.
So we're hoping to leverage the hallway we just walked through
to make the room bigger.
-Okay, so when you say leverage the hallway... -Yeah, what do you mean?
-So that's a walk-in closet I'm guessing. -[Jodi] Correct.
And then there's another closet here.
Which we don't need.
-Oh, okay. Okay. -Yeah.
So you wanna make the closet go all the way here?
Oh! You're saying bring the room out to there.
-[Jodi] Right. -[Dave] Oh, got you.
-So basically just expand the bedroom... -[Jodi] Right.
-[Dave] ...eliminate the hallway. -[Jodi] Yes.
-Yeah, exactly. -[Dave] We can do that.
And then we'd love if we could add a back door here
where they could go in and out.
-[Jenny] Oh, that'd be cool. -[Dave] Okay.
[Jenny] Okay, so for the new guest room, we will replace the flooring,
get new flooring, paint,
get a door in here to the backyard, new lighting,
and then expand it into the hallway to capture more space.
-Okay. -[Jodi] Perfect.
So if your guests are here, where do the boys go?
They're gonna go that way.
-[both] Okay. -All right, we'll follow you.
So, this is our dining room that we've never had a dining room table in.
It's always been a hangout area and study.
Yeah! So this is gonna be the boy's room?
That's right.
[Jenny] So I'm assuming we wanna close off the door
-into the kitchen? -[Jodi] Right.
Because that could be dangerous.
But what do you think they'd like to see in their room?
They are very much into basketball.
Do you guys think they want twin beds? Do they want bunk beds?
Do they want... What would they like?
You know, a full-bed sized bunkbed.
-Maybe something along those lines. -Yeah, we can do something.
Okay, so the plan for this space is
it's going to become the boys' room.
We're gonna close off the door that was previously leading into the kitchen.
We'll get new flooring, build them some beds and we'll paint.
New lighting and make it a really cool basketball themed room.
So this doorway's gone but let's use it for now.
[Jodi] It will be gone.
[Jenny] All right. Kitchen. Ooh, and there's cookies.
-Yes. -Buying our love, I love it.
My mom made those for you guys.
-Mom's guests. -We don't wanna be rude.
Got some cold brew coffee as well.
-Oh. Ooh. -Ooh.
I will have some coffee.
Wait, did you make it? What's the cold brew?
Yes, we've got a cold brew tower.
What is a cold brew tower?
[Jenny] Oh, look, babe, it's dripping.
This is what it does. It just drips a little bit at a time.
[Jodi] That's right, for 12 hours.
So Philip bought me one for my birthday several years ago,
and I used it every week.
-This is an important fixture in your kitchen. -Absolutely.
[Jenny] Okay. So let's talk about the kitchen.
So when we first moved into this house,
we loved that the kitchen was separated.
The kids were really young at that time.
We really would like to open it up now
and have some kind of kitchen island
where the kids could sit there and eat.
So let's talk about, like, look and feel.
[Jodi] I do like the white cabinets.
We like blues but they just need to be updated.
-[Jenny] Okay. -[Dave] Right.
Anything else that you would like in here?
It'd be nice if you could fix the fixtures as well.
-Yeah, those fluorescents... -[Jenny] Yeah.
-[Dave] They get bugs in 'em. -[Jodi] Yes.
And it's also bad lighting. Yeah.
All right. But then, this is dining,
you wanna keep this dining, right?
[Jodi] Yeah, I still wanna have a table
and have the ability to go sit down.
[Jenny] So the plan for the kitchen is, first of all,
to open up this wall into the living room.
Reorient the space and now you have an L-shaped kitchen
with a nice big island.
New flooring, new cabinets, new countertops, new appliances, new lighting.
And then in the dining room, basically carry in the same look and feel
and ensure there is a spot for the coffee tower.
-The most important thing. -[Jodi] That's right.
-[Jenny] Okay. I've got it. -[Philip] Okay.
Okay. So the living room. All right.
So this big guy right here, it's gonna go as far as we can.
-But then other than that-- -[Jenny] Big living room though.
[Dave] Yeah, what else do you guys wanna see in the living room?
So we love to have people over,
we wanna keep it where there's lots of seating.
And Philip's one of eight children.
-Oh, wow. -Are you serious?
-Mm-hmm. -I can't even count.
That's why you don't ever talk. You could never get a word in.
-Yeah. -He's the middle child.
-Okay. -Okay, fun.
So you need lots of space.
-Seating. -Right.
[Jodi] And then we use our fireplace all the time.
Philip loves to make fires for us in the winter
so we'd love this to be a more focal point in the room.
[Jenny] Yeah, I mean, it's a great spot.
-It is what you see right when you walk in the door. -Yeah.
[Jenny] Do you like the fireplace surround the way is it?
[Jodi] We're ready for an update.
Maybe like a farmhouse-type vibe.
-Oh, I like that. Okay. Yeah. -Okay.
Perfect. What about color in here?
[Jodi] We like kinda tranquil colors.
[Jenny] I like it.
So the plan for the living room is to update the flooring,
to paint, and then get you a new fireplace surround
to kind of feel farmhouse and serene in this space.
A place where you can really entertain, have lots of people.
[Jodi] Yep, that's perfect.
-So you deploy in a few weeks then, huh? -Yes.
We need to get started here and then we need to get you over to the shop
to do some fun little project for the kids.
-That'd be cool. -Okay.
You're gonna come back and you're gonna have a brand-new house.
-Yes. -Pretty cool.
We want everything to just be
exactly what Jodi and the kids want it to be
so that while Philip's gone, the house is the last thing they have to worry about.
Yes. I mean, Philip, he's been really quiet.
I know he's worried about what Jodi wants,
so we gotta do something amazing for Philip.
-We've gotta do something-- -I'm getting teary, it's hard. Gosh!
I know. We gotta do something that just knocks it out of the park.
He's serving our country, so we've got to serve him the best we can.
[Jenny] All right, well, this is where we leave you.
-That's it. -All right, you can call me.
-Bye, guys. -[Dave] All right, see you guys.
-What's up, fellas? -[Matt] I brought the crew.
I love that.
All right. So in here,
we're gonna take out this whole kitchen.
[Rob] Okay.
So we're gonna actually close off the back wall where the fridge is
and make a new L out of the kitchen.
All right. Let's do it.
-Let's get rolling. -Yeah.
I'm gonna shut the water off.
[Dave] All the flooring's coming out.
-Oh! -Oh, man!
-[Dave] Did you shut it off? -[Rob] It's shut off.
[Dave] Well, you know, there's probably no better time
to get into this wall than right now.
[Rob] That is true.
[Dave] Let's open it up, see what it looks like.
Matt, this really isn't getting better.
There is a standard operating procedure when you do this.
You shut off the power, shut off the water,
and then, you know when you cut into the water lines,
there's gonna be a little residual water
that will drip just for a hot minute
and then everything's good, it's drained out, you're good to go.
But it's not stopping, it's actually getting more and more powerful.
It's getting significantly worse in here.
I think we call the city
-and see since that valve isn't shutting off. -Let's do it.
Let's go outside. Just come outside.
Typically, this shuts off the meter so the city can lock it.
Ours is completely shut off.
We are literally filling this house with water. That's not Jenny, is it?
-[man] It is. -[Dave] That's Jenny.
It's not started off great.
So we took out the kitchen cabinets, kitchen sink.
Uh-huh.
The water will not stop running on the floor.
So we are hoping we can get a hold of the city.
Are you kidding me right now?
No, there's no shut-off in the house.
There's no shut-off out here at the street.
And so we're... flooding the house.
We're... flooding the house.
The meter is shut off.
But we are still pushing water.
And it is not stopping.
Babe, I have no way to shut off this meter
because it appears that it's broken.
If we can't get the water shut off,
this could cost thousands of dollars in damages
to the baseboards and drywall that we're not removing and will need to be replaced.
Oh, man.
Yeah, we've got the valve.
-Hey, are you talking to 'em? -Yeah, I'm talking to the city.
She's gonna send someone right now.
Okay. Okay.
Oh, my gosh. There's water everywhere.
I leave you guys alone for one hour.
Yeah, so I just got off the phone with the city.
They're sending someone and then they'll fix it.
They're gonna pull the meter?
-Yeah, they're gonna pull it. -Okay.
How fast are they coming here?
She said she's sending someone.
We could try to smash the copper.
Okay.
Well, we've got it down to a trickle.
[Dave] I'll take it.
Now that we've gotten it kinked off,
I feel like we can manage this with a wet vac until they get here.
We started off pretty rocky.
But we overcame.
-I know. -I was just worried 'cause you get kind of angry
-when that kind of stuff happens. -I... [laughs]
She couldn't--
[laughing] Oh, she actually did it!
The mother-in-law's quarters right here.
We gotta figure out this whole...
[Jenny] Guest room.
I mean, we have a whole long hallway that's just being wasted.
It's a huge waste.
But what if we take that...
This hall closet.
So we take this closet right here
that bumps up to the other bathroom.
Extend the wall, you have enough space for a bathroom.
And you could use the plumbing off of the bathroom right behind it.
That way, this hallway isn't wasted
and guests can have their own bathroom to use in the suite.
And it'll save us money by tying in the existing bathroom
where there is plumbing already.
So the only problem is we'd have to enter the bedroom through the living room
which I don't like to have a door right in the middle of the living room.
But the benefit is you get a second bathroom.
To have a separate bathroom for your guests would be amazing.
A smaller closet, and you're just a guest,
-you don't need a big closet. -Yeah.
This is not in the budget,
but the resale value of the house would even go up.
A new bathroom is a big deal.
So we're gonna move some things around in the budget
to make this happen.
'Cause I think we can do it pretty inexpensively.
Maybe $10,000 to $15,000.
I'm excited. I think she'll love it.
Let's go look in the living room.
So we're thinking then, putting that doorway right up in here.
Ugh, I just don't like it.
People are gonna be sitting facing the fireplace and then there's just a door.
Oh, I know!
I don't wanna necessarily make it hidden,
but a little door that blends in.
This door in the living room, it's driving me crazy.
But Jodi said she loved farmhouse style,
she likes shiplap, she likes car siding.
So I think we can do a vertical car siding
on the walls of the living room
that will give her the look she wants and it'll hide the door.
-Love it. -Bam.
If we're doing it, you swing the hammer.
I got the other side.
I don't think that could have been any better.
-[Jenny] Thanks! -[Matt] Perfect.
They're gonna be so surprised. We never talked about adding a whole bathroom.
It's gonna be great, yeah.
And what it does for the house value.
-Yeah. It's good. -It adds a ton of value.
[Dave] Fluorescents in the kitchen are out of here
to make way for new light fixtures.
We're adding a header beam to support the ceiling between the kitchen and living room.
Demo on the floors is happening
and we're gonna come back tomorrow and keep on pushing.
[Dave] So here's what I was thinking.
We gotta have two beds, two boys,
and we don't have a closet 'cause there's just not room.
Here.
Now, we need to start in the boys' room.
It was a previous dining room that we're now converting into a room for two boys.
This is a small space that will not have a closet.
[Dave] So we gotta have storage space.
Beds. We need to make it fun.
There's a lot we gotta do in this room.
-[Jenny] Hi, guys. -[Dave] Hey.
I'm trying to lay this out for their beds.
What? Oh, bunk beds. Yes.
Yeah, the bunk beds, but we don't have a closet in here.
So we gotta put storage.
What if we put storage built into the bunk beds?
I mean, you could do a storage on this side
and then the ladders on this side.
And that's actually something they would use.
So the beds come out to here.
Here's your bed right here.
So this is their space to play basketball.
We want them to be excited about having to move their room,
not disappointed that they're moving into the old dining room.
So we're gonna create a big wall opposite the beds
with a bunch of basketball hoops.
It's just gonna be fun and funky and totally unexpected.
We should call Philip and have him come help us build the basketball goals.
-Maybe write a message to the boys. -Aw, it'd be awesome.
We gotta get that. We'll get on that.
-All right. -Okay.
So, next up, you remember they had the cold brew station?
-[Dave] Yep. -Do you remember this?
I wonder if there's anything cool we can do with the cold brew station.
Maybe we get Philip involved and he does a message to Jodi.
So when she makes it, she could see that message from Philip.
But what about Philip?
We gotta do something for him, too.
So when he comes home, he's like, "What? They didn't forget about me."
Backyard.
I really wanna do something for Philip.
He's deploying in just a couple of weeks
and Malachi, his son, told me that, you know, he's outside
all the time on this back deck.
He loves to grill outside, and so Jenny and I
are going to do something for him.
I think it would be amazing if we re-decked this whole thing,
but if we did like a pergola or something out here to just mack it out for him.
This is his spot. Yeah, I agree.
We'll kind of just create a space where they can spend time as a family.
When Philip's overseas, they can be out there
and kind of be in the place that Philip loves to be and feel him near.
We have our work cutout for us.
Obviously this was not in the plan, this is not in the budget.
So we need to figure out what we can do to make this happen.
-Whatever we have to. -Yeah.
This is the second thing we didn't have in the budget at all.
The full guest bathroom and now the backyard.
The backyard could cost about $6,000 to $7,000 to make it happen.
But he's doing so much for us, for our country,
I'm gonna call the favors for this one.
-Okay. -It's worth it.
-This is great. -I think so, too.
-We need to do it. -Yep.
[Dave] So the framing for the wall that will separate the kitchen
from the new boys' room is in place.
We got a new door being framed in
from the guest suite to the back yard.
We got framing going up inside the guest suite
for the new guest suite bathroom.
-You got that side? -Yep, got it.
[exclaims] There it goes.
Thanks for saving the glass!
And we've got the front door framing going in.
But the new door is just a little bit too tall.
That solid steel lintel,
we're gonna just have to cut through it.
I've got my hot saw.
[Dave] Love it.
[Dave] Oh!
Got it out.
[Dave] Oh!
Got it out.
-That's what we cut out. -Oh, yeah.
That's beefy.
-That's fine. -[Rob] I'll just hold it.
-You ready? -Yep.
Slide her in.
There you go.
Like a glove!
Man, that's perfect.
I love it.
Philip is getting ready to go overseas for a military deployment
in about two weeks.
So, as fast as we possibly can,
I wanna get this family resettled back in their house.
[Jenny] Okay, it looks good!
[Dave] So, you know we're doing Malachi's house.
Eli and Malachi, they're sharing a room like you boys.
A room that has no closets.
So we are going to make them bunk beds
but then, underneath, we're gonna have all, like, their clothes, storage,
we're gonna make it like a whole thing.
I felt like asking the boys Ben and Nate and then Luke, he came, too, which is great.
Malachi is their good friend, and so they should be a part of it.
And I want them to be involved in helping other people.
I wanna teach 'em skills.
So I'll throw a couple of nails in there
and then you guys put two screws in it.
[Luke] Dad, can I do that?
All right. Come here.
-Right there? -[Dave] That's perfect.
Put your back into it.
Just like that.
I want them to have a basic knowledge of woodworking
and being able to fix something.
Even if that's not what they end up doing,
I think having some knowledge of that is important.
[Luke] Dad, I wanna nail it.
[Dave] Let me set it up there for you, and then you pull the trigger.
There you go.
All right, Nate, we're gonna lay this out
just like we would lay out a wall.
Oh, wow. That was a solid setting-down job.
Good job.
And then we pick the whole thing up.
And that's our wall.
One of you guys wanna start on the other end.
Two on each side.
-You want me to tell you a secret? -No.
You got it-- The drill has to be going forward...
-Oh, that makes sense. -[Dave] ...to make it go in.
-[Nate laughing] -Look at that.
So you two wanna get over there and we'll flip it.
I can already tell you this is gonna be a mess.
All right, pull it back towards you.
[light creaking]
Oh! Nate! Pull it to the side or something.
[chuckling] You guys...
-You are not the brightest. -I just did.
I am the brightest. I was hitting the light!
Sometimes it's easier to just do it yourself in the shop.
Thanks, you guys.
You gave me a good start, I'll take it from here.
A lot is happening at the Rule house.
We're finishing off this exterior.
The shutters are going up,
drywall is going up in the guest suite bathroom,
and new flooring is going down,
and it's finished in the boys' bedroom,
so I can get in there and start working on these custom bunk beds,
which is really gonna give them a ton of storage underneath.
All right.
So, all of these basketball hoops,
the goals are going to go at the Rules' house.
I mean, the boys are going to love this.
I'm really excited to get started on this.
We wanna do an entire wall of basketball hoops.
I have Philip Rule coming over to help me.
Good to see ya.
He is getting ready to be deployed in just a few days.
And before he has to leave town,
I wanna get him involved in as many projects as we can for their house.
So, your boys' room,
we are going to put basketball goals all the way along the walls.
[Philip] I think they'll love it.
[Dave] I wanna make some backboards.
Maybe we would take, like, a torch or something and char 'em.
And then, if you've got, like, a saying or something you wanna say to the boys,
I'll take it down and have C&C have it cut in.
-So they can-- -Nice. Yeah, that'd be awesome.
They can see something from you.
Okay. So I'm gonna start cutting out a few of just the plywood squares.
If you wanna pull all this stuff apart.
I've got a sheet of plywood here.
It's a little bit dusty in here.
You know, I feel like this whole basketball wall,
from finding the hoops,
having Philip come over and help create this wall,
I just think it's gonna be so special to the whole family.
Especially Philip, who is having to leave.
[Jenny] Hello.
-Hey. How's it going? -How's it going? Good to see you.
[Philip] Dave's putting me to work here.
Okay. Well, I'm about to put you to work some more, so...
-Yeah, that'd be great. -[Jenny] Okay.
So, you can write a message to the boys,
and then Dave is gonna create a new coffee station.
And we're hoping you can write a message to Jodi,
that we're gonna engrave on that coffee station.
-That'd be awesome. She would love that. -So, every day--
Yeah. So every day when she has her coffee, she has a message from you.
-That'd be cool. -[Jenny] Okay?
-And then... -[Dave] You're not done yet.
We didn't forget about your daughter.
So I think Dave might build a frame for the mirror,
and that's where we engrave something to her.
We feel like every morning, when she's in the mirror, getting ready for school,
she'll read that message from you.
That'd be awesome. I think it'd mean a lot.
That'll be really neat, you know.
Um, because by the time they see this,
I'm gonna be overseas
so they'll be able to see some stuff that we came up with.
-Oh, whoa. -Te amo mas el cafe.
-[Jenny] Spanish? -[Philip] My wife speaks Spanish.
Oh.
-Okay. So that's gonna go on the coffee maker. -Yeah.
I love that.
My whole house, when we got married, was filled with Post-it notes.
-Aw. -All over the entire house,
and that's how she learned Spanish.
She was gonna be a Spanish teacher.
So also bringing it full circle
with the Post-it notes all over the house,
and now you're gonna have notes engraved
-all over the house. -I didn't think about that.
-That's really cool. -[Philip] Mm-hm.
Okay. Thanks, guys.
-All right, torch. -[Philip] All right.
-Be gentle with it. -All right.
We should finish this renovation, hopefully,
a month, month-and-a-half after Philip leaves.
-Oh, yeah. That is what I'm talking about. -All right.
For him, I just think of all the stuff he's gonna miss out on.
-Yeah. -I get all teary because, um,
Malachai, their oldest son, plays sports with our boys,
and Philip is there
-at every game. -Oh, he's there every game.
-Missing that for a year... -It's tough. It's tough.
...and being so far away, it's gotta be just so hard.
And so we can make it a place that feels like a hug
when they're really missing Philip.
I think that's gonna be sweet, with your message in there.
This is the kind of stuff that's important,
and this is why we do this job.
-[Dave] Thanks for helping, man. -[Philip] Yeah, no problem.
[Jenny] Philip has officially deployed,
and Jodi and the kids are staying in a rental.
So we're working really fast to get Jodi and the kids back in their home.
[Dave] I am happy to see y'all.
Finally got some cabinets here.
[woman] The door.
These cabinets are already pre-finished.
They are ready to go, ready to install.
So when you finish putting them in, they really are done.
I think we start at each edge and then just work our way to the middle, don't you?
[man] Yeah. That way you'll get your center.
[Dave] Want me to hold it, Chris?
[Chris] Yeah, if you don't mind coming and helping.
[Dave] All right. Yeah.
Up.
First one's the worst one.
Right there.
-[Chris] Come down just a tad. -[Dave] Okay. Good?
All right, it's looking good.
I like the hood, too.
-It's cute. -[Dave] Yeah, the hood looks awesome.
[Jenny] I have a really pretty tile coming for back here.
[Dave] I'm at the barn and kicking it into high gear.
I'm working on the basketball hoops
that are going to go in the boys' room at the Rule house.
But now, we're adding on two additional projects.
So we are gonna build a framed-out mirror for Emmy's room,
that'll have a nice message from Philip,
that she can read every morning when she's getting ready
and know that her dad is thinking of her.
I'm also replacing the cold-brew coffee tower
with the new tower I'm making out of white oak
to update it so it gives more of that farmhouse look that Jodi's going for.
[Jenny] Hi, babe.
-Hey. How's it going? -[Jenny] That was quick.
Did you finish the cold-brew tower?
No. But I, I...
What's up, man?
I think once we sand it and put the engraving on there.
I think it's cool.
Yeah, Luke, which one do you like better?
The black one.
-[Dave sighs] -[Jenny chuckles]
I think it's gonna look beautiful in her new kitchen.
You're gonna be able to see the coffee coming down with the white oak back plate.
It also has this really, like, farmhouse style that I know she likes,
and I know she'll love it.
Okay. But let's save this in case they disagree.
-I agree. -Like Luke did.
[Dave] I'm back at the Rule house,
and things are really coming together in the guest suite.
The shower is in, and I am finishing
the final piece of the puzzle.
The doorway from the living room into the guest suite,
we wanna camouflage it,
so we're putting car siding on both the wall and the door.
So you're gonna see three hinges and the knob,
but everything else will be hidden.
And so basically what happens, I'll set this door,
and then I'll install floor to ceiling all the way across it.
We'll fill these pieces in and then just keep going across the wall.
All right, keep cutting.
[Jenny] Things are moving forward here.
The new boys' room is finally looking less like a dining room
and more like a bedroom.
We've also updated the fireplace with herringbone brick,
and it looks amazing.
But in the backyard is where we're gonna spend our time today
because we are actually surprising Jodi and Philip
with an updated outdoor space.
Literally, people are coming out of the woodwork to help in any way they can.
This backyard is a big deal for this family, especially Philip,
so we're building a new deck.
So we called in favors, asked around,
asked friends in the community,
and we were able to get this back deck and a pergola donated for this project.
Let's grab some drills out
-and let's start putting these things down. -Okay.
So, usually, you know, with your deck,
you're pressure washing it every year.
There's maintenance, you gotta stain it.
No.
He has got a, like, composite deck.
I mean, it won't rot.
[Jenny] Put me in, Coach.
-Really, really low maintenance. -[Jenny] Mm-hm.
So they don't have to mess with it. They can be in their backyard,
and they can enjoy time together,
which will be so well deserved.
Hey, tap that end down, will you?
There you go. That'll work.
[Jenny] This deck is huge, too.
It's a lot bigger than it was before, and a lot more...
-Useable. -Useable, yeah.
[Jodi] Is it okay that I can't feel my legs right now?
It's been a long three months for you and the kids.
-Oh, my gosh. It's white. -[Sue exclaims]
-Oh! -What?
-I love it. -I can't.
-Thank you so much. -You're welcome.
Today, at the Rule house, we are wrapping things up.
We have about three weeks until Jodi and the kids move back in.
Appliances are here, then we've got cabinet hardware coming.
And backsplash tile, it's here.
[gasps]
[exclaims] It's so pretty.
Oh, my gosh. It's so pretty.
My backsplash tile arrived from Morocco.
-Don't say that every day, do you? -Hm.
We needed this because we have the blue here,
we have all this white.
I really wanted to break it up.
And this tile has so much character.
You know, it has little imperfections, which I love,
because it's handmade.
So, I love anything handmade. It makes me very happy.
These are gorgeous.
The countertops are going in in the kitchen.
We're adding the new light fixtures.
I am going to install the barn doors on the boys' beds.
Opens right up to the side.
Perfect.
-The whole bed turned out really, really cool. -[Jenny] Yeah.
Once we get these hoops on the wall, watch out.
[Jenny] We're working on the landscaping
to make the front yard look really beautiful
and pop with the new paint.
We're also adding low-maintenance plants, just like Philip wanted.
And then this goes around there.
And out back, we are putting a pergola up on that deck.
It's gonna be amazing when it's all done.
When Philip comes home from overseas,
I want him to be able to go out back, kick his feet up.
-Yeah. -Crack a beer
and so some grilling in a shaded area.
I appreciate you guys coming out.
I couldn't think of anyone better to do it for.
This is the family you wanna do everything for.
You know, I told the guys that I was doing this,
-and all of 'em, "We'll come help." -Showed up.
-"We'll be here." -Yeah.
Really everything out back here was labor on our parts,
but all of the materials were donated.
Company donated this pergola, deck was donated.
People are so great.
So it's 11 to the inside, right?
We're gonna knock it out, get it done, and I know he's gonna love it.
It's all hands on deck to build the pergola.
-You get it? It's all hands on deck... -I get it. Yeah, I got it.
...to build the pergola. Ha-ha!
[Dave] Yeah, one more piece ought to get us.
We'll screw all the end cap pieces on
and be done with this thing.
Last one. That is it.
All right, last.
-This is it. Jodi is coming back today. -With Sue.
[Jenny] Sue is Jodi's mom,
and she will also be moving in, along with Jodi's dad,
to help Jodi out while Philip's deployed.
He's gone for potentially a year and a half.
Jodi has three kids.
She needs the help.
So that is part of the reason we wanted to get this renovation done.
[Dave] So, it's actually gonna be a really big surprise for Sue as well.
She's not gonna have to share a bathroom
-with three little kids. -Yeah.
[Dave] She's actually gonna have her own space so I cannot wait to show her.
The boys have their own complete room,
-that was a dining room that wasn't being used. -It was a dining room. Yeah.
So it needed to be a fun move, and not like,
"Ugh. We got kicked out of our room."
All right, let's go set the flag.
-They're almost here. -All right.
And it really feels like this really comfortable,
really warm, really welcoming home.
[Jodi] So exciting. Can't wait.
It's been a long three months for you and the kids.
Yes. I think they're gonna love having their house back.
This is it.
Is it okay that I can't feel my legs right now?
[Sue] Here it comes.
-Oh, my gosh. It's white. -[Sue exclaims]
[both laughing]
-[Sue] Here it comes. -Oh, my gosh. It's white.
[both laughing]
-[Dave] Hello. -[Sue] Hello, hello.
-It's beautiful. -[Jodi] Look at this.
-Hi. -Hi.
[Sue] Yeah, Philip's here.
I love that. You drive around town with him?
Oh, yeah. Everyone wants to see him.
-All right. Well, come look at your house. -All right.
[Jenny] Well, take a look.
[Jodi] It's beyond what I could have pictured. Love it.
Out here, I know you wanted to paint the brick
so I actually went with a really creamy white
-so that it's not stark, just soft. -[Jodi] Yeah.
-Dave built you these shutters. -[Sue] Aw.
[Jenny] We painted them in, kind of, a taupe color.
And you have your new wood front door, with all the glass.
-[Jodi] It's beautiful. -[Jenny] So you get light inside.
I think it goes with all of this exterior.
It's just so cozy.
It feels like just a really cute cottage.
And it feels so different than every other house in the neighborhood now.
-You get so much shade, too, from the trees. -[Jodi] Yeah.
So we made sure to plant things that are easy to take care of
and also will grow nicely in your yard.
Well, I get to live here.
I'm a little bit worried I'm gonna drive past it.
-Not realize this is my house. -You might.
-Okay. So inside... -Okay, we got a lot to see.
...it is really unrecognizable.
We'll follow you in. Let's go.
-[Jodi] Oh, my goodness. -[Sue] Oh. [chuckling]
-Wow. -Oh, the kitchen.
-[Sue] Oh. -[Jodi] I love it.
-[Sue] It's gorgeous. -[Jenny] Yes.
I can't even recognize the house.
-Wow. This is beautiful. -[Sue] Oh.
[Jenny] I know you wanted a white kitchen, but you also like blue...
-[Jodi] Yes. -...so we did a mix of the two.
And you have a gigantic island.
Remember, this used to be closed off. So now it's all open.
-[Jodi] Wow. -[Sue] Oh.
There's tons of storage.
This is a little pantry.
-Whoa. -[Jenny] With pull-out shelves.
-[Jodi] They're perfect. -And then this backsplash tile
is actually handmade in Morocco.
-[Sue] Oh, that's tile? -[Jenny] Yes.
-[Sue] I thought that was wallpaper. -[Jodi] Me, too.
-[Jenny] Individual tiles. -[Sue] Oh, wow.
-[Jenny] Ties in with the blue on the island. -[Jodi] That's so perfect.
-[Jenny] So you have the dining space. -[Sue] Yeah.
[Jodi gasps] The coffee pot!
-Ah! -[Sue chuckling] Oh.
-Oh, wow. -[Jodi] This is so perfect.
-[Sue] It is. -Aw. "Te amo."
-[Sue] Aw. -[Jodi] It says, "I love you
-more than coffee." -[Sue] Oh.
-Aw. -So Phil came over and helped me with that.
I took the original and then recreated a new one out of white oak
so it was just updated.
And then he knew this was one of the most important things to you.
-Yes. -[Dave] So... So that's his handwriting.
Every morning, you have a message from him.
-[Sue] Aw. -[Jodi] I love that.
[Jenny] Yes.
So now, your living room.
Go ahead. Check this out.
[Sue] Oh, this is so nice.
Oh, I can't wait to hang out here with the kids.
[Jenny] It's very comfortable, cozy.
So warm and welcoming.
-[Jodi] It's beautiful. -[Sue] Yes, it is.
-The fireplace, I love it. -Yay!
Go check it out.
-[Sue] Looks amazing. -[Jodi] Yes.
-Oh, it's so much better. -[Jenny] Yes.
So, I know you like classic farmhouse style
so we wanted to do the brick surround in a herringbone pattern.
And then just a really clean mantle.
So the TV was blocking the window before,
but now, all this natural light's coming in.
-And it's very bright. -[Dave] Yeah.
And we put all of the vertical trim in this room
-to add some texture. -[Sue] I saw that. I love it.
It actually reminds me of my grandparents' house when I was a kid,
and they had the wood paneling.
-It brings back memories that I love. -[Jenny] Happy memories.
-Yes. -And, of course, we opened up this wall,
so now this space just all flows together.
I know you guys have a big family,
so this is a space that I feel like you guys can all...
-[Dave] Yeah. -...be in together and feel comfortable.
Everybody can fit.
So, should we go to the old dining room?
So you remember, this used to be open to the dining room.
So that's now closed. So we should go check that out.
Okay. You're gonna have to show me which way to go to get there.
Right there.
-[gasps] Oh, my word. -Oh.
Oh, they're gonna love this.
-This is awesome. -Oh, wow.
-Oh. -[Jodi] How fun.
-[Jenny] Go in there. You can check it out. -[Sue] Oh, my goodness.
Oh, look, a little reading nook.
-Oh, is it game? -[Dave] It could be games.
-It could be whatever they want. -Yeah.
-Oh, and baseball and basketball. -[Sue] Oh.
-[Jodi] It's so perfect. -[Sue] Oh.
[Jodi] They might actually want to clean their room now.
So the challenge in here is this is a smaller room, right?
-[Sue] Yeah. -[Jenny] So Dave built them beds.
-[Jodi] Wow. -You have Eli,
and you have Malachai at the bigger bed up top.
But there was no space for a closet in this room
so we had to build a closet underneath.
[Dave] We did all of the flooring, all of the trim...
-Yes. -...before we did the bed.
So it's all attached.
So it can all be removed at a later date or modified if anything changes.
And then if you look around the corner,
the steps to go up to Malachai's bed are all drawers.
-[Jodi] That's so perfect. -[Jenny] So there's more storage for their clothes.
[Sue] Look at all their basketball hoops, Jodi.
-Yes. -They're gonna have so much fun in here.
-[Jenny] Our boys helped put these together. -[Sue] Oh.
And you know who else helped with these?
-Philip. -Philip.
Yeah, he helped make all of these.
He wanted to say something to the boys.
He said that was their secret code.
-It is the code word. -Pay attention.
Pull it together, boys.
[Jodi] Man of few words.
I know the boys are gonna be throwing balls from their beds up there...
-[Sue] Uh-huh. -...into their basketball hoops.
And sorry in advance, but it's a fun room.
And we also wanted to do something special for your daughter, Emmy.
-Okay. So-- -Go down the hall?
-Yup. -Across the hall.
I'll follow you.
We found an old mirror in your garage.
And so Dave rebuilt the frame.
-[Jodi] Oh, my gosh. -[Sue] Oh.
[Jenny] So she has her own mirror.
-And that's his message to his daughter. -[Jodi] Aw.
[Jodi] He was a little sweeter to her than the boys.
[all laughing]
[Jenny] Okay. Let's go check out the new guest room.
-Do you wanna check that one out? -[Jodi] Yeah, let's do it.
-[Sue] Okay, let's go. -[Dave] Let's go.
Oh, wow.
-This is so nice. -[Jodi] Beautiful.
Beautiful.
-[Jodi] So big. -[Sue] I know!
I know you love blue...
-[Sue] Yeah. -...so we went ahead and just went all blue.
Gave you a door to the outside
so you really do have your own space
when you and your husband are here helping
-while Philip's away. -[Sue] Oh, my goodness.
[Jodi] It's so beautiful. Oh, my gosh.
So we wanted you to have, kind of, a quiet, little space.
It's hidden. Maybe the kids won't even know.
The reason we took the hallway is to give you another space.
Another room. So go ahead and check that out.
[Sue chuckling]
Oh, wow.
-Oh, wow. -With a walk-in shower.
-[Jodi] It's beautiful. -[Sue] Oh, it's amazing.
I was shocked to see that they were able to add that bathroom.
I love every part of it.
Oh, I love this. Our very own bathroom.
[Jenny] You don't have to share a sink with the kids.
[Dave] No, no sharing with the kids.
It's not a big bathroom, but it's--
It's private.
[Jenny] This will just be a nice little guest suite
that everybody can have their own space when you're visiting.
Okay. So we have one more space we wanted to show you
that we thought you might be able to use.
-So, follow us. -Okay, follow us.
-Okay. -Yeah.
-Go on out. -[Jodi] All right.
-[Jodi gasps] -Wow!
-Oh! -Oh, my gosh.
[Sue] It's amazing.
-Wow. -Look at the backyard.
Wow.
The pergola.
-Go check it out. -[Sue] Oh, wow.
[Jodi] This is so nice.
So, this is a big surprise.
We didn't tell you guys about it.
Exceeded our wildest expectations.
You have, like, a wonderful community.
All of this was donated.
Philip is sacrificing a lot, being away from his family and serving our country,
but so are you, and so are the kids.
Everyone in your community sees that.
That's why everybody stepped up and did whatever they could
to make this really special for you guys.
So we're just grateful to be a small part of it, and make a place
that while you wait for him, you guys can feel loved.
This is amazing.
-Thank you so much. -You're welcome.
I could tell the minute they pulled up, I know Jodi loved it.
-[Dave] Yeah. -[Jenny] And Philip's on deployment right now.
He won't be back for at least another year.
So when he comes home, we really want this to be a place
that is a refuge for their family.
[Emmy] Whoa! Oh, my gosh.
This doesn't look like our house.
We were so blessed to be able to do this
because of what they do for our country.
And it was wonderful, it was wonderful.
Te amo mas el cafe.
-What does that mean? -"I love you more than coffee."
That's saying something in this house.
[Jodi] The house is beautiful.
There is so much change, and I am so excited for it.
So this is something your dad wrote for you.
-"You are beautiful." -I love it.
I think it's gonna take a while for all of this to process.
-Whoa! -Oh! Oh, my gosh!
-Oh! -What?
-There's a basketball hoop! -[Emmy] That's awesome.
Completely honored and humbled and, um... [voice breaking]
Very pri... I can't.
[Jodi sniffles]
-Oh, my! -[Emmy] Whoa!
Just, it means a lot.