This First House (2026) s01e05 Episode Script
Home Wasn't Built in a Day
1
♪♪
♪♪
-Okay, so, we're moving.
♪♪
I dropped Crystal and the kids
off at the new place,
and now brothers from the church
are helping me
to empty out this apartment.
I rented a huge truck,
which I've never driven before.
♪♪
So thankful for all the help
we received
from our brothers in church.
-Yeah,
the hardest part is over,
so we're very excited.
-So, we completed the essential
parts of the renovation
so Crystal and Jorge
can move into their house.
But there's still some projects
that we're gonna help them with
after they settle in
to their new home
because with a new house,
you're never completely done
before you move in.
-We've got
a pretty full day ahead of us.
Hope you're ready.
-Less talking, more loading.
-The deck landing --
that is priority number one.
There's a lot of trim work.
Deck boards.
-Got it.
-The railings.
We've got a little bit more
edge block.
Trying to balance
the size of the patio
and still have a garden bed
that terminates
at the end of the house.
So, that was really important
to the homeowners.
We found a happy medium,
and we're gonna be able
to get the plants in there
to provide some privacy
on that side.
Alright, time to move
some plants.
We're also building
out these planter boxes.
-Looks good.
-It's really coming together.
-It really is coming together.
-We've got some soil to get.
-This is 15, and I think we
only need one or two extras.
-We've got plants to go in,
but we should be able to get
everything done today,
as long as everything
goes smooth,
and hopefully get it all
cleaned up, wrapped up,
and, by the time Hannah
gets back,
be ready to hang that shade sail
as the final touch.
-Hey, Sean.
-Hey, Hannah.
-How's it going?
-How are you? Good.
-It's looking great.
-Thank you.
-Good to see you again.
-Thank you.
What do you think?
I wanted to get it staged up
so it looks finished.
-It's beautiful.
It's so much more
than we expected.
So, thank you so much.
-Yeah.
We've got
our landscaping mostly in.
We reinforced that concrete edge
block with rebar, so the roots
shouldn't affect it.
-Good.
-It's really starting
to come together.
One of the last things
that we have to do
is hang the shade sail.
I could really
use a hand on it, so
-I'll help as much as I can.
I put my boots on.
Ready to go.
-Perfect, perfect.
We've got one anchor point
already set up there.
I need to install one more
over on this corner.
And then we've got our last one,
which is
your repurposed laundry pole.
-Yes.
-We just spray-painted it
black
-Yeah.
-cleaned it up a little bit,
and it has new life.
-Looks better than ever.
-Yeah.
Start out by unraveling this.
It's got a pretty tight weave
on it,
so it's gonna provide
a lot of shade.
You can see
it still has openings,
so it's not gonna hold water,
but during, like,
a really light rain,
it's gonna provide
some dry space, so
-That's great.
-Perfect balance.
What we really want to do here
is make sure
that this is evenly distributed
from our three anchor points.
So we're gonna extend this
with some chain
and some hooks and a tensioning
device on here, so
-You probably know by now
I'm all for symmetry,
and thank you for humoring that.
-Absolutely, yeah.
-But where I am, of course,
is the corner
that's gonna need the most shade
'cause where you two are
still gets a lot.
-Yeah.
-Does it make more sense
to have even amounts of chain
on all three points
or to orient it more tight
to the pole?
-Let's go with that. I like it.
-Will that look alright?
Like, will it be too long?
-It's gonna make it basically
the same amount of chain
on these two sides.
It looks intentional.
-And how adjustable is it?
-Pretty adjustable.
-Okay.
-So, I love that idea.
Let's start with that.
-Okay.
-Makes it a little bit easier,
as well.
We can just start
by hooking it on that post.
-And is this symmetrical?
-Yes.
-It's not a long side?
It's a --
Whatever kind of triangle
that's called.
-There is no hypotenuse.
This is an equilateral triangle.
-Thank you.
-16, 16, 16.
-Is that even geometry?
-Uh, it would be,
but we don't need to know
the Pythagorean theorem here.
-That's good.
-No hypotenuse necessary.
So, we've got this quick link
here,
and we can just
slide this right on.
Don't mind handing that to me?
Thank you.
-No. Easy.
At least, you make it look easy.
-That part is easy, so
Just get a measurement
from the wall.
We're about 19 inches.
And let's get a measurement
over there by Catherine.
-Tighter than you.
She's at 17".
-Alright.
-Not to throw shade.
-Hey!
[ Laughter ]
So, we're gonna use
this turnbuckle here,
and you can see
we can loosen it up
so that we can get it
on to the shade sail.
And then once it's on there,
we just spin this,
and it's gonna
tension it up for us.
Here's one
that's almost fully retracted
and how much bigger it gets,
like this.
So, this is what we're gonna put
in, a nice heavy-duty eye hook.
We're gonna do
the very outside corner here.
We know
that there's gonna be a stud
on the outside corner
of the house.
We're going to get it as far
as we can with our hand.
And then let's take a
screwdriver, or really anything,
and we can use this for leverage
to kind of help us spin it.
Ah. There we go.
-Bravo.
-We're a little bit further
here.
We need to extend this
a little bit,
but we can use the chain
for that.
We can get this hooked on here.
And now I have the quick links
as tight as I can by hand.
Alright.
We're gonna need to tension this
quite a bit here,
so that's what we can do here,
and we have plenty of play.
-What muscle gets most sore
as an outdoor space artist?
-Probably shoulders.
-Yeah.
-Yeah, just --
-The lifting?
-Well, I guess
it depends on the day.
Today, I've been doing
a lot of stuff above my head,
and that can get a little tiring
on the shoulders, but
I can see Nick and Hannah
getting excited about it
already
now that we've got a little bit
of progress done, but I think
they're gonna be blown away
with the final product,
just increasing
their quality of life,
being able to have a space
to relax outside,
having some raised garden beds
to grow some flowers,
grow some herbs.
I think they're just gonna get
so much use out of this space
that they're gonna love it.
Alright.
-That's looking pretty good.
-Yeah. Beautiful.
So, we'll cut this off,
and we should be good to go.
-So, the space is so much more
than we originally envisioned
for back there.
So I'm really excited
to see those final details
come together
and get to start enjoying it.
-Now we've got --
we've got some shade, so
-Excited to relax in it.
You're welcome to come back
anytime and hang out
with us here.
-Alright.
Well, now we can finish up
the last couple details
and get this cleaned up
so you'll have your brand-new
outdoor living space to enjoy.
-Wonderful. Can't wait.
-Cool. Yeah.
-Thanks so much.
-When
-When water
-When water freezes,
-When water freezes,
it
-When water freezes,
it expands
-When water freezes,
it expands by
-When water freezes,
it expands by about
-When water freezes,
it expands by about 9%,
but that's not enough
to make most pipes burst.
-Wait, the ice isn't?
-No.
It's the pressure that
that expansion of water
has caused downstream.
[ Cellphone whooshing ]
♪♪
-So, the caulking
in here's kind of ugly, bro.
-"Ugly" is an understatement.
It's nasty.
-I started ripping it out,
and what happens is,
when it's not sealed 100%
between the tile
and the top of the tub,
water gets in, it can't dry,
and one of my mentors
taught me the saying,
"If it can't dry, it'll die."
So, we have to do the laborious
task of digging all of this out,
and then we're gonna have to
sort of scrape all this away.
-You know, caulking is much
harder than it looks, right?
-It is because there's
all these reels out there
where you've got two surfaces
And someone just, like,
licks their finger
and it's perfect.
-That's what I thought.
-Yeah.
And then you try it,
and it's --
[ Imitates explosion ]
So, the plan today is,
pull out the big stuff,
clean off the little stuff, and
then we're gonna mask it off,
and then we're gonna push in new
silicone right into the joint,
pull the tape off, let it cure.
Tomorrow,
you can take a bath in here.
-Okay.
-Let's do it.
Alright, so, why don't you
start on this side?
Use that little hooky guy.
And I'll start cleaning this
side using a plastic razor blade
to start like this.
Slowly work at it.
-That big drain.
-So, what's the bath routine
with the kids?
Do you do it?
Does Crystal do it?
Is it an every night bath?
-Mateo's basically
an every night bath.
But what we started doing now
is just giving them
a bath together.
You know, it's tough.
It's tight in here.
-Look at that.
-I'm trying to feel the caulk.
-So, all of this stuff on
the surface we need to get off.
We either need to sort of
peel it off
or pull it with a razor blade.
I'll use a little bit of solvent
on my rag
to see if that loosens it.
-I was gonna ask you
what that smell was.
-Yeah, it's like an adhesive
remover.
-Oh, okay.
-While this adhesive remover
kind of sets in,
I'm curious to know --
is this a fun project?
[ Laughs ]
-Fun?
I wouldn't classify it as fun,
but I'm definitely
learning a lot,
and it's a super useful skill.
-Mateo, what do you think?
Alright, it's looking like
it's drying.
So, next thing we're gonna do
is we're gonna vacuum
everything,
give it a quick wipe-down.
I'm gonna start masking.
-Okay.
♪♪
-I think it looks
really good so far.
Definitely way better
than the first time we saw it.
And I'm really excited
for Jorge to learn
how to caulk a tub
for future projects.
-Alright, so, this is
the tape we're gonna use.
We're gonna stay at least
a quarter off the inside corner.
But wherever we have
sort of rough cuts in the tile,
where it's more than that,
we're gonna go more.
Now we're gonna do
the same thing on the top.
So, see here?
We're showing some tile.
We're over. We're under.
There's no tile showing.
There's some tile.
So, you know, it's obviously
not gonna look perfect
when we're done, but
it hopefully will look cleaner.
-Better than that.
-And the most important thing
is we're trying to keep water
from the wall assembly.
Now it's time for the vertical.
So, same thing,
staying off the corner,
working our way down, trying
to stay as straight as possible.
Boom.
And you see,
because it's sort of square,
it's doing a nice job.
What do you think?
You want to give it a go?
-Sure.
-Alright.
-You make this thing
look easy, Zack.
Like there?
-A little less.
Yeah. Like that. Yeah.
♪♪
Alright, so, I'm gonna do
a little demonstration
so you know what
we're looking for here.
We're gonna put the sealant on.
And on this side, I'm just gonna
leave it heavy.
And then over here, I'm just
gonna sort of smooth it out
so it's lower
or tighter to the tape.
This is sort of what
we want to see happening.
Now, see
where I peel it back here?
See how that's peeling up?
So, that's what we'd like
to avoid.
We don't want to leave
a big, heavy
bit of sealant on the tape.
We want to taper it down
so it's thinner,
so we get that nice,
sharp line like that.
This is the only part
of this whole process
that really takes any
precision and accuracy.
So, now it's "prepperson" time.
[ Both laugh ]
So, we've got the sealant.
And what happens when
you get sealant on your finger?
You take the rag,
and you go like this, right?
-It's happened to me many times.
-And then all of a sudden,
the rag is covering sealant.
-Exactly.
-And then this hand
is covered in sealant.
-And then you just have a mess
and you just get frustrated.
-And then you ruin your clothes
like I did.
This was brand-new this morning,
and look at me now.
Ruined.
Anyway, so, the way I like to do
it is I'll sort of lay it out.
Could be next to me,
could be on my leg.
But I'm gonna sort of wipe
my finger, wipe my finger,
wipe my finger,
and work my way across this
rather than doing this nonsense,
where I'm just making
a bigger mess.
And then if we're finding
that when we're tooling it
or cleaning it out,
it's dragging,
we can use glass cleaner.
It needs to be
a clear glass cleaner.
If it's tinted, sometimes
that tint will dye the white.
-So, what will that do?
-It'll basically
act as a lubricant.
You could also use dish soap.
But basically what we want to do
is it'll make it easier
for us to sort of spread it out
without it just getting
all over our finger.
So, this is, like, basically
to smooth it out.
We call it tooling it.
-Okay.
-And then we're gonna
have a trash bucket close
'cause we're gonna be --
Once we get this
where we want it,
we're gonna pretty quickly,
um
-Take the tape off.
-take the tape off.
-And then we just
want to drop it in here.
-And then we're just gonna,
like, pull it up and -- brrp!
And try not to get ourselves
completely covered.
One of us is gonna get
completely covered.
-It has to be you.
-It has to be me
'cause I'm wearing
my fancy suit
and you're dressed very nicely.
-I wouldn't say very nicely,
but I definitely don't want
caulk on my clothes.
-We're using 100% silicone.
And try and push it
into the joint.
Alright, so, we're gonna
switch to clear for this
'cause I think the white
is gonna contrast
a little too harshly.
So, now that we've got it all
smoothed out,
we're gonna remove the tape.
And what you're gonna
try and do
is pull away from the joint.
And then
straight into the trash.
So, you start down there
pulling that off,
and I'll work on this side.
-Okay.
-Kind of satisfying, isn't it?
-Yeah. Wow.
-Just grab the glass cleaner
and just get it nice and wet
on top of the sealant.
So, I'm just gonna kind of
just blend that right now.
So, now we're just gonna
clean the tub,
get all our footprints
out of it.
But well done.
You crushed it.
-Wow. I'm shocked.
-It looks really good, right?
-Yeah, yeah.
-I think it went really well.
I think you doubted me at times.
I think you doubted yourself.
-Yes.
I didn't doubt you.
I doubted myself.
It went surprisingly well.
-It went very well.
-Thanks a lot, Zack.
♪♪
-While
-While work
-While work continues
-While work continues
on
-While work continues
on the
-While work continues
on the patio,
Hannah and I are here
at The Home Depot today
to pick out some string lights.
You know, lighting can really
just change up
the exterior of your home
so dramatically,
and it's also gonna give
you a great ROI.
-That's important to me.
I'm excited.
-Alright, let's go do
some shopping.
-Okay.
-So, there's a lot of different
string lights over here.
These make a lot of sense,
right?
They've got
the Edison-style bulbs.
They're LEDs, so they're gonna
last a really long time.
And they're rated
for outdoor use,
so it's perfect for the patio.
-Sounds great.
-Okay.
-Thank you.
-Of course.
Alright, so, this is
an outdoor smart plug.
You basically
plug this in outside,
plug your lights into it.
It comes with a remote,
and you can even connect it
with Google Assistant or
an Alexa, something like that.
And this is a wallplate bracket
if you want to mount
that smart switch inside.
-Great.
-Cool. Should we check out/
-Okay. Thanks.
Thanks so much for guiding me
through The Home Depot, Camille.
I'm really glad they had
everything we needed.
-Yeah. My pleasure.
♪♪
-Hey, Hannah.
How are you?
-Good. How are you?
-Just finishing up
this GFCI receptacle for you.
-Great.
I've got everything else
I think we need.
-Let's check it out.
-Okay.
You'll probably know what things
are better than I will, but
We've got the hanging kit.
-Yes, this has the galvanized
steel cable
with, like,
an insulated jacket around it --
so we know
it's not gonna rust --
and with the sunlight-resistant
tie wraps.
You can always tell that
because they're black.
-So, very durable.
And then some sort of
special plug.
-Yes, the Caseta by Lutron.
It's the outdoor smart plug.
This will be the wall bracket
that that remote will go on.
And we'll put a cover plate
on it,
and it'll look just like
a regular switch.
Only you will know
it's wireless.
-It's like a secret switch.
-Yes.
Let's get the string lights
unpacked.
-Okay. Oh, they're pink!
-When we do lay them out,
they're not gonna get
all scratched up.
-I was gonna say it's good
for the holidays, but
-They'll come off
just like this.
-Okay. Easy.
-And we're just gonna
lay it out in a triangle.
-Oh-ho, it looks like
almost a perfect match.
-It does.
Let's get started
with stringing the cable
from the hanging kit
through these eyelets.
-I was a little surprised
we needed this
'cause, of course, the lights
are already on a string.
-It'll make it nice and taut.
It'll stay put.
-Okay, good.
-We can loop the extra cable
through here.
Then once it's nice and tight,
then we'll cut it
just so we know
we didn't make any mistakes.
If you could hand me
tie wraps
-Okay.
-we'll secure the lamps
up to the cable,
and then I'll peel off
the protective plastic
that they have.
Now that we have
the extension cord,
we can get the Caseta
outdoor smart plug set up.
If you can just
take the remote out,
and then we'll just press
this top button here.
-[ Singsong voice ] Ta-da!
That looks great!
-Yeah, it'll certainly add
a very cool vibe.
And if you ever need
any more exterior
or interior light fixtures
or even any more smart controls,
you know where to find it --
right at The Home Depot.
-Sounds good.
Thank you so much.
-Sure.
-As part
of the pre-construction process,
before any project begins,
I always have our homeowners
fill out a checklist.
This checklist tells us
who's living in the house,
what are the phone numbers
of the neighbors
in case we have to move
any vehicles,
what are the names of your pets
so we can get them
back in the house
if they get out,
where are the shutoffs
for your water, your gas
so that we know
how to get to them quickly
if there's an emergency.
And we have them sign off
on this checklist
so that everyone knows
what's happening
n this renovation, right?
And we get that Wi-Fi code.
We know where the key is.
All of that information
is in place
so that our team
can be efficient
and get the job done quickly.
[ Up-tempo music plays ]
-Yeah, that definitely
-Today I'm thrifting
at a reuse store.
So, you want to look for
quality pieces of furniture.
That's real wood
versus particle board.
You want to look for
good joinery.
So, like this -- you see
the dovetail joinery here.
And solid hardware.
This isn't going anywhere.
-So, today we're working
with Kathryn Fulton.
We're meeting her
for the first time,
but Zack and Camille
introduced us to her.
So, this is our room, Kathryn.
-Alright.
-She's a great designer
and organizer,
and she's gonna be helping me
with my closet today.
4-My name is Kathryn Fulton.
I'm an interior designer
and licensed contractor.
The name of my company is
Fulton Design & Construction.
How I got started
in this field --
it really was just an evolution.
I remember my husband
and I's first apartment.
People liked it.
Word of mouth
just started traveling,
and did interior design
for friends and family.
But I would hire out
for contractors
to execute my designs,
and I was failed a lot of times.
So I figured,
if I want it done right,
I need to learn
how to do it myself.
And truthfully,
I think a part of me
actually liked the construction
side a little bit more.
I just really didn't know that
that was an avenue for me
because I wasn't exposed
to that,
at least not in my community,
you know, as a woman, right?
I see design as
both an art and problem-solving.
So, I saw an apprentice call
with "This Old House."
They were looking
for apprentices for the show.
So I looked at my husband
and I'm like,
"I'm really not a princess age,
but I want to learn.
And here's an opportunity.
And who's better to learn from?
Like they are it, you know?
That's, like,
the best of the best."
So I was selected for their
apprenticeship program in 2019,
and I had the opportunity
to work under their builders.
And that was absolutely
a game changer for me
because I had never worked
on a full home remodel,
and that was just, like,
the opportunity of a lifetime.
-And this is what I could use
a little bit of help with.
-Looks just like the pictures.
-Yeah, exactly.
I sent you pictures of it,
so you have an idea.
-Yeah.
The biggest mistake I feel
that people make
with small-space storage
is really not thinking
out of the box.
For instance, like,
a hallway closet.
You're like,
"Okay, I'll put in a rod,"
but what else could we do?
What else
could that closet hold?
I love the fact
that you and Crystal have,
like, his and hers closet.
-So do we.
-[ Laughs ]
-It's such a luxury, truly.
-I'm sure it creates
a peaceful environment.
-Absolutely.
-But I do see
that this closet
is underutilized
because you have
your clothes here,
you have stuff below here.
but I'm seeing
all this space
that could be utilized, right?
So, I have this concept
that I have that I love.
It's called the power closet.
-Okay.
-And basically what that is,
is just taking a closet
and maximizing its potential.
We're thinking vertically.
We're using the walls,
the backside of walls,
the doors to just be able
to store multiple things
in an efficient manner.
There are many
off-the-shelf closet systems
that we could utilize
without going, like,
full-on custom closet
because, as you and I know,
that could be very costly,
right?
And so that's not the point
of the power closet.
The point of the power closet
is for you,
a DIY-er, a homeowner,
to be able to implement
that system to suit your needs
and without breaking the bank.
-Exactly. I love that.
-So, I picked up a system
that I think
would work great for here.
It provides you
multiple streams of storage
or opportunities for storage.
You could get
a little bit more organized.
Take your brushes off
of your nightstand.
-Yeah, I got to.
-Keep everything together
so you're not having to look
in different places.
And bring a little bit more
uniformity within this space.
-Okay.
-You ready to get started?
-That sounds awesome.
-Okay, great.
-You
-You ready
-You ready to
-You ready to get
-You ready to get started?
-You ready to get started?
-That
-You ready to get started?
-That sounds
-You ready to get started?
-That sounds awesome.
-Okay, great.
-So, my closet -- it has mostly
my clothes and my shoes,
but it also has my art supplies
and a lot of miscellaneous
things that I keep.
I have to figure out a way
to make it all work in there
'cause that's my
only storage space
that's for me personally
in the apartment.
[ Laughs ]
-Needs will change, right?
So when I create my power closet
or different storage solutions,
I try not to make it so rigid
where it's, like, specific
for one thing.
You want to do it yourself?
Here, hold it.
We gotta drill it.
[ Drill whirring ]
Alright.
Alright, Jorge,
you went to work.
So, you removed the shelf
that was here, the rod,
and holding up the shelf
was a plate around the wall.
So, with there being holes left,
we just went ahead
and patched the holes.
It's quick-drying compound,
so in a couple of minutes
we're good to go.
It just needs a little bit
of sanding.
You could go back after the fact
and paint it.
So, this is the bottom.
-Mm-hmm.
-There are two that makes
the full vertical system.
-Mm-hmm.
-And what's great about this
is that they have
adjustable legs on there.
So that way, we could get
a nice level of this system.
We're out of level.
-Yeah.
-So, it looks like
we need to go up on the left.
Alright.
So, now that we have
the left to right,
we're gonna do
the front to back.
-Okay.
-So, this is only
about 14 inches deep.
As you can see [laughs]
-It's too big, yeah.
-this is a little overkill
for what we need.
So we'll break out
our torpedo level, okay?
So, next thing is that
we're gonna mark the holes
to fasten this to the wall
before we attach the top unit.
So, what we want to go ahead and
do now is check for the studs.
And this is
where our marking is.
It's picking up nothing.
This is our other marking.
And nothing over here.
So, we're gonna go ahead
and put those anchors in,
the heavy duty ones.
Oh, there you go. Okay.
♪♪
It's feeling good
right now, right?
[ Laughs ]
-Good, yeah.
I'm excited about having, like,
one of those cool closets
that I've never had
that has, like, you know,
two levels and you could put
your pants on one level
and your shirts on another and
just different storage options.
-There it is.
♪♪
♪♪
Bins and baskets -- I absolutely
think that they're essential
because they keep
your items together.
They corral it.
They give them their own home.
-I'm looking forward to
hanging my ties
-I am looking forward
to seeing it hung, as well.
We could go ahead
and get the doors on.
-I've never had
anywhere to hang my ties.
-Okay, well job well done.
-Mm-hmm.
Thank you so much, Kathryn.
-Great job. You're welcome.
♪♪
-So, in between patio
and other basement work,
I've been doing a few things.
One of the things
has been replacing the siding
on the side of the house that
was damaged from an old deck.
And it turned out there was
some other damage underneath.
We remediated that, as well.
Now the siding
is back on the house,
and we're nearly finished
with that.
We'll do some paint.
We'll put in just a couple
final tiles of siding
and get that buttoned up.
And then in the basement,
there's some ducts
that have huge gaps
between the connections.
And so I put some putty
and some mastic in those ducts
to kind of seal them
so they're nice and efficient.
Today I'm gonna learn how to
hang a door from a professional.
I've tried a few times,
and I think today
I might get it right.
-Hi, Mindy. Nice to meet you.
-Hi. Nice to meet you.
-Welcome to the jobsite.
-Thank you.
I'm Mindy Otten-Chen, and my
business is HandyMin Help.
Alright, let's get this
cardboard under here.
Today is the day
that we get to install
the door to the bathroom.
First thing we need to do is
check the floor, if it's level.
And that's gonna
help us determine
how to cut the jambs
on the door.
That means we have
a difference of 3/16".
Typically, you want about
1/2 inch below the door.
So we know we can cut off
about 1/4 inch
without it being a problem,
and that's great.
Do you want to try the jigsaw?
-Sure. I'll give it a shot.
-Keep the saw blade
on this side of the line
since this is the side
that gets cut off.
-Okay.
-Alright, very nice.
-Yeah, that was a lot nicer
than our jigsaw.
[ Both laugh ]
-My company is based
in Brooklyn, New York.
I mostly do small projects,
and that's everything
to do with carpentry.
Usually that means built-ins,
that means doing accent walls
or trim,
and up to the size of, like,
doing a kitchen renovation.
We're gonna use
these plastic shims today.
They're gonna be more durable
and last longer,
especially in a moisture area
such as the bathroom.
Basically, we want them
above the hinge.
We want to make sure
that we keep the level
straight on the same line
'cause if we tilt it at all,
it's not gonna give us
an accurate reading.
-Seems like you almost needed
three arms in that situation.
That was impressive.
-[ Laughs ]
Kind of until it's tight.
So, I'll hold.
You just have to press the tip
and then squeeze.
-Okay.
-Beautiful. Yeah.
Everything's looking great.
Once the door's in, we
can ship it the rest of the way.
-Every time I've hung a door
in the past, something is wrong,
and it's out of plumb
in one dimension or another,
such that the door kind of leans
and the door wants to open
or the door
leans the other direction
and the door wants to
naturally close.
And so I'm hoping today
I can get that right,
figure out how you hang a door
so that the door
doesn't move on its own
and that the door shuts
smoothly with even gaps
all the way around
and it's flush with the wall.
I really am looking forward to
a good door hang.
-Right, now that the door
is closed,
we can kind of see
where the gaps are
and where we need to keep
working on it.
So, right here
it's a little fat,
so we're gonna go ahead
and take a shim,
push it in and even that out.
-So, that pushed the jamb
closer to the door?
-Yeah.
So, we want this gap
to be even all the way down.
And then it gets
a little skinny.
That's where I wanted to kind of
suck it in a little bit more
before we shimmed it.
♪♪
So, that's starting
to look pretty good.
So, this gap is very wide.
And so basically,
to make it smaller,
we're just gonna put a shim in
between the jamb and that stud.
It's always fun when
I can, like, work on something
that's really well designed
and, like, has a really
beautiful impact at the end.
I also just enjoy, like,
making people's lives better.
So, the goal here
was to make sure the gap
is even all the way around
and that the door doesn't open
or close by itself.
Have a successful door install.
-So, the gap between the door
and the jamb is even,
and then the gap
between the jamb and the drywall
gets covered with trim.
-Yes.
-Okay.
-So, the last part
of hanging the door
is to just cut off the shims.
The most important part
of cutting off the shim
is making sure
that when you cut,
you cut towards the studs
so that you don't have
anything sticking out past.
'Cause once that's done,
we put on the casing.
The door is fully operational.
Now it's ready for trim,
which is gonna be one of
Zack's projects in the future.
♪♪
-Today,
hanging the door with Mindy
was really a valuable experience
for me.
I think the order
of operations is crucial.
I think the use of screws
instead of maybe just nails
is something
that I'm taking away
because it allows
for finer-tuned adjustments,
and it can hold things
in place a little tighter.
So, that was a big lesson
for me.
I am certain I will be hanging
a door again in the future,
and I'm looking forward
to applying the lessons
I learned today to making
those doors turn out well.
-The
-The one
-The one tool
-The one tool that
-The one tool that I
-The one tool that I don't
-The one tool that I don't
leave
-The one tool that I don't
leave home
-The one tool that I don't
leave home without
-The one tool that I don't
leave home without is
-The one tool that I don't
leave home without is my
-The one tool that I don't
leave home without is my knife.
I feel like it's the
most primitive tool,
but it's the tool
that gets everything done.
Also, my knife has,
like, this little screwdriver.
So, between the knife and
the screwdriver, I can do a lot.
♪♪
♪♪
-When it comes
to designing a home,
I always start with this
principle -- function first --
because a house
could be gorgeous,
but if it doesn't work for you,
it's not good design.
Your home should support you
and your daily lifestyle,
working, cooking, kids,
hosting, all of it.
What functions does
that space need to serve
to support your lifestyle?
Before you start buying stuff,
before you start bringing
in pieces into your home,
sketch it out with dimensions.
Does this setup support
how you live?
♪♪
-Today we're installing
our new vanity.
Today I'm just hoping
to learn from Kordian,
to see it in real time,
to be able to ask questions,
and to sort of understand what's
going on in your own house.
Since we were last here,
we got some new furniture,
living room, dining room.
We still have, like,
little things here and there,
like hang some stuff up
or put stuff together,
but for the most part,
this is the last major thing
where we need to, like,
get work done.
It's really starting
to feel like a full, real home.
-Hey. How are you?
-Hey.
Come on in.
-Alright, let's see it.
Alright, Jorge,
so this is the vanity
that we're gonna be replacing?
-Yeah.
-Okay, so, first thing
we're gonna do
is we're going to shut
the water off to this.
-Mm-hmm.
-We're gonna disassemble
the old hoses
that connect to the old faucet.
We're gonna take
the P-trap assembly off.
We'll cut the caulking
around the sink,
and hopefully we should be able
to pull this forward.
-Okay.
-So, this is the cold valve,
hot valve.
This is our P-trap nuts
that we'll be disconnecting.
And this is the arm
that we'll be cutting off.
These shut off valves here
are original with the bathroom,
so I highly recommend
we replace them in case
you have any emergencies
with this faucet in the future.
-I would really like that, yeah,
'cause the valves in this
apartment are pretty old.
-Alright.
That's the next thing we'll do
after we change this vanity.
-Okay. Awesome.
-So, we're gonna start
by shutting this off,
just like this.
The only thing that concerns me
with this installation
is that the shut-off valves
are old.
But we have some secondary
shutoffs in the crawl space,
so I think we'll be just fine.
Out we go.
I'm gonna pop this trim
off here.
♪♪
Alright, Jorge, so, the next
thing we have to do is --
The old vanity
was only 30 inches wide.
The new one is 42 inches wide.
So we're gonna go ahead
and measure from this wall
over to this trim,
mark 42 and about 1/8
so we give ourselves
a little bit of room.
Cut that piece of trim
with a multi-tool.
We'll slide the vanity
into place.
We're gonna cut
that existing piece of trim
that was here
and fit it back into place.
-Excellent.
-So, these are the two
shut-off valves
that we're gonna replace.
So that way,
you have new shut-offs
in the event
of any emergencies.
♪♪
So, the old shut-off valves
are now off.
We're gonna go ahead
and install the new ones.
So, this is our 5/8 nut.
This is gonna
go on the pipe first.
Then I have
this brass ferrule here.
I'm gonna slide that
over the copper pipe next.
Then we're going to take
our pipe compound,
put that on our brass ferrule.
Then we put our shut-off
valve on
and tighten this
5/8 nut on the back end
as much as we can.
And you're gonna go ahead
and grab two wrenches
just like this.
One of them
sits inside the shut-off,
and the other one
you tighten the nut with.
-Wow. It looks great already.
-Alright, Jorge, now our new
shut-off valves are installed.
Why don't you go ahead
and try to see
how easy it is
to open and close them?
-Sweet. Very nice.
-So, in the event of any
emergencies,
you almost need no effort
to turn these off.
-Yeah, mm-hmm.
With having little kids,
you just always need
a bunch of things.
And you want to have access
to them when you need them,
but you want to have a place
to put them
when you're not using them
so that your house
is not, like, total chaos.
So, having more functional
storage allows us to --
you know,
the little things that they use
when they take a bath --
and even us ourselves --
just having a place to put them
so that they're not in the way
when we're not using them.
-It is something that homeowners
could do themselves.
But being that you live
in a condo complex,
I would probably strongly
suggest to hire a plumber
because you could affect
your neighbors
if something goes
catastrophically wrong.
-Wow. Looks really good.
-So much counter space, right?
-A lot of counter space.
The marble really classes it up.
-Yeah.
-You like it?
-Yeah, I do.
-Alright, Jorge,
so, the water's back on.
I'm gonna go ahead and
turn these new angle stops on.
There's the cold.
There's the hot.
And why don't you go ahead
and do the honors
and turn the faucet on?
Completely normal
to get a little bit of air.
-Yeah.
-That'll go away
after a couple seconds.
-Very nice.
-Everything went pretty much
the way we expected it.
When we show up to a place,
usually the shut-off valves
are not in good condition,
so we're always ready
to replace them.
Alright, so, what do you think,
Jorge?
-Beautiful.
So much counter space,
so much storage.
The faucet is amazing.
Just love it.
-I'm glad you like it.
-Thank you so much.
-I wish them best of luck,
and I hope they enjoy that
vanity and they fill it up
because they've got a lot more
storage than they did before.
♪♪
-We're getting close
to the finish line
at Nick and Hannah's.
The drywall's up.
Everything's got a first coat
of primer,
and the plumbing and electric
is mostly complete.
Nick and Hannah have decided
to go with an epoxy floor,
and I've reached out
to my buddy Sean
to take care of that scope
of work for them.
Hey, Sean.
-How you doing today?
-Excellent. Yourself?
-Doing well.
So, what's going on?
They've already cleaned
and prepped and ground
and even primed
the basement floors.
-The most important step
of the process --
we're gonna lay down
the base coat,
which is the medium gray
that you guys had chose.
And we're gonna apply
all of the chips,
the lanai gray
that we went with on it.
-So, there were many options
of color for epoxy.
There were many options
of flake, and, as usual,
it took us a long time
to make that decision.
And as usual,
we landed on a gray.
And the chips help kind of even
out some of the uneven surfaces
that remain
after all of the prepping
and grinding you did do.
Some imperfections will remain
'cause we didn't do
the full grind.
-Exactly.
We did patchwork, filling in
any cracks, voids, craters,
anything like that
with a patch job.
And then we grind that
into the original floor.
So, it's pretty much the best
that you're going to get
at the budget given,
and then,
with the full broadcast,
that's where you hide anything
that might be
a little bit imperfections.
-Now they're gonna be
adding the first coat of epoxy.
Then flake goes on top of that.
And then, I'm told,
clear coat goes on top of that.
So, for the basement floors,
we wanted something
that could handle moisture well
and something
that was relatively low height
'cause we're already
dealing with low ceilings.
And we needed something
that could ideally be uniform
between the basement
and the garage.
An epoxy flooring seems
to satisfy all of those things.
-The epoxy flooring -- it's
very similar to a paint product,
whereas prep is 90% of the work.
All these little voids --
the chips won't stick to that.
5% the product, 5% the process.
You're gonna want to mush it
into everything
'cause now the chips
will stick in there.
Typically, basements being
a little more prone
to seeing wetter conditions,
I'm a little more of a fan
of the epoxy versus carpet
or floating floors.
With water heaters,
washers, and dryers,
you get a leak here and there
or pipe breaks,
it's a lot worse.
The epoxy -- you're just
either mopping it up
or squeegeeing it out,
and there's no real damage,
versus a carpet,
you got to rip it out,
you're dealing with mold.
Floating floors,
you get mold under the floor.
In the northeast here, you're
bringing your car in the garage.
You got rain and snow on it.
And it's all gonna seep
into the concrete.
This pretty much typically
seals off the floor
with a topical product,
so it's a lot easier.
-There's a wide range
of quality and finish
you can get with epoxy floors,
from, like, you know,
the perfectly flat, smooth,
high-gloss
kind of showroom finish
to still rather uneven and
therefore heavily flaked finish.
And we had to come
somewhere in the middle.
We also learned
about the chemicals.
Because we live
above the basement,
we were hoping that whatever
products we use in the basement
would not emit
harmful chemicals.
And epoxy is a product
that can emit
lots of volatile organic
compounds.
So we wanted to go for
a low VOC.
-After we lay down the
thick coat of two-part epoxy,
apply the chips.
Chip to rejection, we overflow
the floor with chips.
The most popular chip
is a vinyl chip.
This application, though,
is slightly different.
They're more
of a composite chip,
so the chip has a texture to it
and almost a pearlescent finish,
a little bit more
of a modern look.
But the next day will be
the clear-coat top coat,
which is a satin that we decided
to go with on this project.
And then once that
was dried 24 hours,
the next day, we come back
and we apply
the second top coat
on that, as well.
And that's the final
of the process for that.
-I'm looking forward
to seeing it when it's all done.
-Yeah, absolutely.
-Awesome. Thanks, Sean.
-Excellent. You got it.
♪♪
-So, I got to go to Nick
and Hannah's today
and wait for the inspector.
And Hannah's got some time off,
so we're gonna do, I guess,
a little crafting while we wait?
She actually said she may have
some crafts for my kids,
which will make me look like
father of the year.
-I'm gonna show you
how we can make them
each their own little toolbox.
-How apropos.
-I thought they might
appreciate that.
After all the work
he's done for us,
I get to show him
a little bit of the work
that I like to do with crafting.
So, I wanted to make a couple
little gifts for his kids.
-Did you make these pieces?
-I did.
I pre-cut everything for us.
If you want to just take
off these strips --
-You even taped it?
-I did.
-Curious to sort of catch up
with her on where she's at
'cause my older sister
is actually adopted,
but I'm pretty sure
a lot's changed in 40 years,
so I'm curious to see how
they're navigating that path.
Well, it's so nice of you
to think of my kids.
So, I mean, the whole reason
we kind of kicked off
this renovation
was for your kids hopefully.
How's that going?
-Yeah.
Well, we're in the waiting
process
to be matched with our child,
which is really exciting.
It can also be hard to be
patient 'cause it has been
a long time even getting
to this point, many years now.
So, we almost gained a family
member during this process.
[ Voice breaking ] Um, we were
matched for an adoption.
which was the highest high
I've ever had to be chosen.
Um, and then it
unfortunately didn't work out.
When it comes to, you know, some
of the stresses of renovation,
it is just a house.
-If you could advise yourself
a year and a half ago,
what have you learned
and what misconceptions
were you sort of wrong about?
-I really thought
that the process would be a lot
about judgment, like, are
you good enough to be a parent?
Um, throughout the process,
like, through your home study,
you have a social worker
who meets with you
-So, what is home study?
I'm not familiar
with that terminology.
-Having someone come
into your home
and make sure that it's safe
and ready for a child.
It's also giving them, really,
everything you can give
about yourself.
So, your financial history,
your medical history,
your family relationships.
-No privacy.
-[ Chuckling ] Yeah.
Our social worker
is really more about
her wanting
to be supportive of us
through the process,
which just meant so much.
-So, that was actually
less stressful
than you thought it would be.
-Yeah, yeah.
-Oh, that's interesting.
-Which was great. Yeah.
So, part of the process is
you create a profile,
which is basically
the story of you,
so that birth parents can get
to know you as much as possible,
at least that introduction
to who you are
and what your life is like
and why you're wanting to adopt.
And that is how
they initially make a selection.
Then, from there, you get
to meet, maybe virtually.
And after that, you're matched.
And obviously things
can change up to the time
the child is born, or even
after, depending on each state.
There's different, I think, what
they call revocation periods.
But usually that selection
remains
and you're able to have
a relationship
not just with the child,
but with their birth family,
as well.
Another misconception --
from what we've learned,
at least,
it seems like it's more similar
to other ways of having children
than not.
And so that's something
I would love
for more people to understand
so that, you know, when we share
that we're having a baby --
Sometimes people's
reaction is concern.
So, we'll say, you know, "We're
having a child by adoption."
And they're like,
"Are you sure?"
[ Both laugh ]
And we've certainly
given it a lot of thought.
I mean, you made the joke
earlier you don't just, like,
accidentally adopt a child.
-Right, yeah.
I don't think
there's any connection
that separates, you know,
an adopted child to their parent
than a biological child.
And I can say that
as someone who has a sibling
who is adopted
and one that isn't.
And she is as enmeshed
in our family as anyone else,
She's just a little shorter
than us.
[ Both laugh ]
-Yeah, well, I really
appreciate you sharing that.
It's wonderful
to hear good stories.
Again, I think there's more
good stories out there than not.
So I think that's good
for people to hear.
The questions I don't mind
'cause if it can be helpful
for people
to, you know, have me pass on
what I've learned,
I certainly want to learn
from others,
and so I don't mind
people asking questions.
I think just the more
positive people can be about it
because there's a lot
to be positive about.
-Right.
-It's a child. It's a family.
It's a beautiful thing.
Well, I appreciate your interest
and your support.
So, thank you.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
-You got there it, sonny boy?
♪♪
♪♪
-Okay, so, we're moving.
♪♪
I dropped Crystal and the kids
off at the new place,
and now brothers from the church
are helping me
to empty out this apartment.
I rented a huge truck,
which I've never driven before.
♪♪
So thankful for all the help
we received
from our brothers in church.
-Yeah,
the hardest part is over,
so we're very excited.
-So, we completed the essential
parts of the renovation
so Crystal and Jorge
can move into their house.
But there's still some projects
that we're gonna help them with
after they settle in
to their new home
because with a new house,
you're never completely done
before you move in.
-We've got
a pretty full day ahead of us.
Hope you're ready.
-Less talking, more loading.
-The deck landing --
that is priority number one.
There's a lot of trim work.
Deck boards.
-Got it.
-The railings.
We've got a little bit more
edge block.
Trying to balance
the size of the patio
and still have a garden bed
that terminates
at the end of the house.
So, that was really important
to the homeowners.
We found a happy medium,
and we're gonna be able
to get the plants in there
to provide some privacy
on that side.
Alright, time to move
some plants.
We're also building
out these planter boxes.
-Looks good.
-It's really coming together.
-It really is coming together.
-We've got some soil to get.
-This is 15, and I think we
only need one or two extras.
-We've got plants to go in,
but we should be able to get
everything done today,
as long as everything
goes smooth,
and hopefully get it all
cleaned up, wrapped up,
and, by the time Hannah
gets back,
be ready to hang that shade sail
as the final touch.
-Hey, Sean.
-Hey, Hannah.
-How's it going?
-How are you? Good.
-It's looking great.
-Thank you.
-Good to see you again.
-Thank you.
What do you think?
I wanted to get it staged up
so it looks finished.
-It's beautiful.
It's so much more
than we expected.
So, thank you so much.
-Yeah.
We've got
our landscaping mostly in.
We reinforced that concrete edge
block with rebar, so the roots
shouldn't affect it.
-Good.
-It's really starting
to come together.
One of the last things
that we have to do
is hang the shade sail.
I could really
use a hand on it, so
-I'll help as much as I can.
I put my boots on.
Ready to go.
-Perfect, perfect.
We've got one anchor point
already set up there.
I need to install one more
over on this corner.
And then we've got our last one,
which is
your repurposed laundry pole.
-Yes.
-We just spray-painted it
black
-Yeah.
-cleaned it up a little bit,
and it has new life.
-Looks better than ever.
-Yeah.
Start out by unraveling this.
It's got a pretty tight weave
on it,
so it's gonna provide
a lot of shade.
You can see
it still has openings,
so it's not gonna hold water,
but during, like,
a really light rain,
it's gonna provide
some dry space, so
-That's great.
-Perfect balance.
What we really want to do here
is make sure
that this is evenly distributed
from our three anchor points.
So we're gonna extend this
with some chain
and some hooks and a tensioning
device on here, so
-You probably know by now
I'm all for symmetry,
and thank you for humoring that.
-Absolutely, yeah.
-But where I am, of course,
is the corner
that's gonna need the most shade
'cause where you two are
still gets a lot.
-Yeah.
-Does it make more sense
to have even amounts of chain
on all three points
or to orient it more tight
to the pole?
-Let's go with that. I like it.
-Will that look alright?
Like, will it be too long?
-It's gonna make it basically
the same amount of chain
on these two sides.
It looks intentional.
-And how adjustable is it?
-Pretty adjustable.
-Okay.
-So, I love that idea.
Let's start with that.
-Okay.
-Makes it a little bit easier,
as well.
We can just start
by hooking it on that post.
-And is this symmetrical?
-Yes.
-It's not a long side?
It's a --
Whatever kind of triangle
that's called.
-There is no hypotenuse.
This is an equilateral triangle.
-Thank you.
-16, 16, 16.
-Is that even geometry?
-Uh, it would be,
but we don't need to know
the Pythagorean theorem here.
-That's good.
-No hypotenuse necessary.
So, we've got this quick link
here,
and we can just
slide this right on.
Don't mind handing that to me?
Thank you.
-No. Easy.
At least, you make it look easy.
-That part is easy, so
Just get a measurement
from the wall.
We're about 19 inches.
And let's get a measurement
over there by Catherine.
-Tighter than you.
She's at 17".
-Alright.
-Not to throw shade.
-Hey!
[ Laughter ]
So, we're gonna use
this turnbuckle here,
and you can see
we can loosen it up
so that we can get it
on to the shade sail.
And then once it's on there,
we just spin this,
and it's gonna
tension it up for us.
Here's one
that's almost fully retracted
and how much bigger it gets,
like this.
So, this is what we're gonna put
in, a nice heavy-duty eye hook.
We're gonna do
the very outside corner here.
We know
that there's gonna be a stud
on the outside corner
of the house.
We're going to get it as far
as we can with our hand.
And then let's take a
screwdriver, or really anything,
and we can use this for leverage
to kind of help us spin it.
Ah. There we go.
-Bravo.
-We're a little bit further
here.
We need to extend this
a little bit,
but we can use the chain
for that.
We can get this hooked on here.
And now I have the quick links
as tight as I can by hand.
Alright.
We're gonna need to tension this
quite a bit here,
so that's what we can do here,
and we have plenty of play.
-What muscle gets most sore
as an outdoor space artist?
-Probably shoulders.
-Yeah.
-Yeah, just --
-The lifting?
-Well, I guess
it depends on the day.
Today, I've been doing
a lot of stuff above my head,
and that can get a little tiring
on the shoulders, but
I can see Nick and Hannah
getting excited about it
already
now that we've got a little bit
of progress done, but I think
they're gonna be blown away
with the final product,
just increasing
their quality of life,
being able to have a space
to relax outside,
having some raised garden beds
to grow some flowers,
grow some herbs.
I think they're just gonna get
so much use out of this space
that they're gonna love it.
Alright.
-That's looking pretty good.
-Yeah. Beautiful.
So, we'll cut this off,
and we should be good to go.
-So, the space is so much more
than we originally envisioned
for back there.
So I'm really excited
to see those final details
come together
and get to start enjoying it.
-Now we've got --
we've got some shade, so
-Excited to relax in it.
You're welcome to come back
anytime and hang out
with us here.
-Alright.
Well, now we can finish up
the last couple details
and get this cleaned up
so you'll have your brand-new
outdoor living space to enjoy.
-Wonderful. Can't wait.
-Cool. Yeah.
-Thanks so much.
-When
-When water
-When water freezes,
-When water freezes,
it
-When water freezes,
it expands
-When water freezes,
it expands by
-When water freezes,
it expands by about
-When water freezes,
it expands by about 9%,
but that's not enough
to make most pipes burst.
-Wait, the ice isn't?
-No.
It's the pressure that
that expansion of water
has caused downstream.
[ Cellphone whooshing ]
♪♪
-So, the caulking
in here's kind of ugly, bro.
-"Ugly" is an understatement.
It's nasty.
-I started ripping it out,
and what happens is,
when it's not sealed 100%
between the tile
and the top of the tub,
water gets in, it can't dry,
and one of my mentors
taught me the saying,
"If it can't dry, it'll die."
So, we have to do the laborious
task of digging all of this out,
and then we're gonna have to
sort of scrape all this away.
-You know, caulking is much
harder than it looks, right?
-It is because there's
all these reels out there
where you've got two surfaces
And someone just, like,
licks their finger
and it's perfect.
-That's what I thought.
-Yeah.
And then you try it,
and it's --
[ Imitates explosion ]
So, the plan today is,
pull out the big stuff,
clean off the little stuff, and
then we're gonna mask it off,
and then we're gonna push in new
silicone right into the joint,
pull the tape off, let it cure.
Tomorrow,
you can take a bath in here.
-Okay.
-Let's do it.
Alright, so, why don't you
start on this side?
Use that little hooky guy.
And I'll start cleaning this
side using a plastic razor blade
to start like this.
Slowly work at it.
-That big drain.
-So, what's the bath routine
with the kids?
Do you do it?
Does Crystal do it?
Is it an every night bath?
-Mateo's basically
an every night bath.
But what we started doing now
is just giving them
a bath together.
You know, it's tough.
It's tight in here.
-Look at that.
-I'm trying to feel the caulk.
-So, all of this stuff on
the surface we need to get off.
We either need to sort of
peel it off
or pull it with a razor blade.
I'll use a little bit of solvent
on my rag
to see if that loosens it.
-I was gonna ask you
what that smell was.
-Yeah, it's like an adhesive
remover.
-Oh, okay.
-While this adhesive remover
kind of sets in,
I'm curious to know --
is this a fun project?
[ Laughs ]
-Fun?
I wouldn't classify it as fun,
but I'm definitely
learning a lot,
and it's a super useful skill.
-Mateo, what do you think?
Alright, it's looking like
it's drying.
So, next thing we're gonna do
is we're gonna vacuum
everything,
give it a quick wipe-down.
I'm gonna start masking.
-Okay.
♪♪
-I think it looks
really good so far.
Definitely way better
than the first time we saw it.
And I'm really excited
for Jorge to learn
how to caulk a tub
for future projects.
-Alright, so, this is
the tape we're gonna use.
We're gonna stay at least
a quarter off the inside corner.
But wherever we have
sort of rough cuts in the tile,
where it's more than that,
we're gonna go more.
Now we're gonna do
the same thing on the top.
So, see here?
We're showing some tile.
We're over. We're under.
There's no tile showing.
There's some tile.
So, you know, it's obviously
not gonna look perfect
when we're done, but
it hopefully will look cleaner.
-Better than that.
-And the most important thing
is we're trying to keep water
from the wall assembly.
Now it's time for the vertical.
So, same thing,
staying off the corner,
working our way down, trying
to stay as straight as possible.
Boom.
And you see,
because it's sort of square,
it's doing a nice job.
What do you think?
You want to give it a go?
-Sure.
-Alright.
-You make this thing
look easy, Zack.
Like there?
-A little less.
Yeah. Like that. Yeah.
♪♪
Alright, so, I'm gonna do
a little demonstration
so you know what
we're looking for here.
We're gonna put the sealant on.
And on this side, I'm just gonna
leave it heavy.
And then over here, I'm just
gonna sort of smooth it out
so it's lower
or tighter to the tape.
This is sort of what
we want to see happening.
Now, see
where I peel it back here?
See how that's peeling up?
So, that's what we'd like
to avoid.
We don't want to leave
a big, heavy
bit of sealant on the tape.
We want to taper it down
so it's thinner,
so we get that nice,
sharp line like that.
This is the only part
of this whole process
that really takes any
precision and accuracy.
So, now it's "prepperson" time.
[ Both laugh ]
So, we've got the sealant.
And what happens when
you get sealant on your finger?
You take the rag,
and you go like this, right?
-It's happened to me many times.
-And then all of a sudden,
the rag is covering sealant.
-Exactly.
-And then this hand
is covered in sealant.
-And then you just have a mess
and you just get frustrated.
-And then you ruin your clothes
like I did.
This was brand-new this morning,
and look at me now.
Ruined.
Anyway, so, the way I like to do
it is I'll sort of lay it out.
Could be next to me,
could be on my leg.
But I'm gonna sort of wipe
my finger, wipe my finger,
wipe my finger,
and work my way across this
rather than doing this nonsense,
where I'm just making
a bigger mess.
And then if we're finding
that when we're tooling it
or cleaning it out,
it's dragging,
we can use glass cleaner.
It needs to be
a clear glass cleaner.
If it's tinted, sometimes
that tint will dye the white.
-So, what will that do?
-It'll basically
act as a lubricant.
You could also use dish soap.
But basically what we want to do
is it'll make it easier
for us to sort of spread it out
without it just getting
all over our finger.
So, this is, like, basically
to smooth it out.
We call it tooling it.
-Okay.
-And then we're gonna
have a trash bucket close
'cause we're gonna be --
Once we get this
where we want it,
we're gonna pretty quickly,
um
-Take the tape off.
-take the tape off.
-And then we just
want to drop it in here.
-And then we're just gonna,
like, pull it up and -- brrp!
And try not to get ourselves
completely covered.
One of us is gonna get
completely covered.
-It has to be you.
-It has to be me
'cause I'm wearing
my fancy suit
and you're dressed very nicely.
-I wouldn't say very nicely,
but I definitely don't want
caulk on my clothes.
-We're using 100% silicone.
And try and push it
into the joint.
Alright, so, we're gonna
switch to clear for this
'cause I think the white
is gonna contrast
a little too harshly.
So, now that we've got it all
smoothed out,
we're gonna remove the tape.
And what you're gonna
try and do
is pull away from the joint.
And then
straight into the trash.
So, you start down there
pulling that off,
and I'll work on this side.
-Okay.
-Kind of satisfying, isn't it?
-Yeah. Wow.
-Just grab the glass cleaner
and just get it nice and wet
on top of the sealant.
So, I'm just gonna kind of
just blend that right now.
So, now we're just gonna
clean the tub,
get all our footprints
out of it.
But well done.
You crushed it.
-Wow. I'm shocked.
-It looks really good, right?
-Yeah, yeah.
-I think it went really well.
I think you doubted me at times.
I think you doubted yourself.
-Yes.
I didn't doubt you.
I doubted myself.
It went surprisingly well.
-It went very well.
-Thanks a lot, Zack.
♪♪
-While
-While work
-While work continues
-While work continues
on
-While work continues
on the
-While work continues
on the patio,
Hannah and I are here
at The Home Depot today
to pick out some string lights.
You know, lighting can really
just change up
the exterior of your home
so dramatically,
and it's also gonna give
you a great ROI.
-That's important to me.
I'm excited.
-Alright, let's go do
some shopping.
-Okay.
-So, there's a lot of different
string lights over here.
These make a lot of sense,
right?
They've got
the Edison-style bulbs.
They're LEDs, so they're gonna
last a really long time.
And they're rated
for outdoor use,
so it's perfect for the patio.
-Sounds great.
-Okay.
-Thank you.
-Of course.
Alright, so, this is
an outdoor smart plug.
You basically
plug this in outside,
plug your lights into it.
It comes with a remote,
and you can even connect it
with Google Assistant or
an Alexa, something like that.
And this is a wallplate bracket
if you want to mount
that smart switch inside.
-Great.
-Cool. Should we check out/
-Okay. Thanks.
Thanks so much for guiding me
through The Home Depot, Camille.
I'm really glad they had
everything we needed.
-Yeah. My pleasure.
♪♪
-Hey, Hannah.
How are you?
-Good. How are you?
-Just finishing up
this GFCI receptacle for you.
-Great.
I've got everything else
I think we need.
-Let's check it out.
-Okay.
You'll probably know what things
are better than I will, but
We've got the hanging kit.
-Yes, this has the galvanized
steel cable
with, like,
an insulated jacket around it --
so we know
it's not gonna rust --
and with the sunlight-resistant
tie wraps.
You can always tell that
because they're black.
-So, very durable.
And then some sort of
special plug.
-Yes, the Caseta by Lutron.
It's the outdoor smart plug.
This will be the wall bracket
that that remote will go on.
And we'll put a cover plate
on it,
and it'll look just like
a regular switch.
Only you will know
it's wireless.
-It's like a secret switch.
-Yes.
Let's get the string lights
unpacked.
-Okay. Oh, they're pink!
-When we do lay them out,
they're not gonna get
all scratched up.
-I was gonna say it's good
for the holidays, but
-They'll come off
just like this.
-Okay. Easy.
-And we're just gonna
lay it out in a triangle.
-Oh-ho, it looks like
almost a perfect match.
-It does.
Let's get started
with stringing the cable
from the hanging kit
through these eyelets.
-I was a little surprised
we needed this
'cause, of course, the lights
are already on a string.
-It'll make it nice and taut.
It'll stay put.
-Okay, good.
-We can loop the extra cable
through here.
Then once it's nice and tight,
then we'll cut it
just so we know
we didn't make any mistakes.
If you could hand me
tie wraps
-Okay.
-we'll secure the lamps
up to the cable,
and then I'll peel off
the protective plastic
that they have.
Now that we have
the extension cord,
we can get the Caseta
outdoor smart plug set up.
If you can just
take the remote out,
and then we'll just press
this top button here.
-[ Singsong voice ] Ta-da!
That looks great!
-Yeah, it'll certainly add
a very cool vibe.
And if you ever need
any more exterior
or interior light fixtures
or even any more smart controls,
you know where to find it --
right at The Home Depot.
-Sounds good.
Thank you so much.
-Sure.
-As part
of the pre-construction process,
before any project begins,
I always have our homeowners
fill out a checklist.
This checklist tells us
who's living in the house,
what are the phone numbers
of the neighbors
in case we have to move
any vehicles,
what are the names of your pets
so we can get them
back in the house
if they get out,
where are the shutoffs
for your water, your gas
so that we know
how to get to them quickly
if there's an emergency.
And we have them sign off
on this checklist
so that everyone knows
what's happening
n this renovation, right?
And we get that Wi-Fi code.
We know where the key is.
All of that information
is in place
so that our team
can be efficient
and get the job done quickly.
[ Up-tempo music plays ]
-Yeah, that definitely
-Today I'm thrifting
at a reuse store.
So, you want to look for
quality pieces of furniture.
That's real wood
versus particle board.
You want to look for
good joinery.
So, like this -- you see
the dovetail joinery here.
And solid hardware.
This isn't going anywhere.
-So, today we're working
with Kathryn Fulton.
We're meeting her
for the first time,
but Zack and Camille
introduced us to her.
So, this is our room, Kathryn.
-Alright.
-She's a great designer
and organizer,
and she's gonna be helping me
with my closet today.
4-My name is Kathryn Fulton.
I'm an interior designer
and licensed contractor.
The name of my company is
Fulton Design & Construction.
How I got started
in this field --
it really was just an evolution.
I remember my husband
and I's first apartment.
People liked it.
Word of mouth
just started traveling,
and did interior design
for friends and family.
But I would hire out
for contractors
to execute my designs,
and I was failed a lot of times.
So I figured,
if I want it done right,
I need to learn
how to do it myself.
And truthfully,
I think a part of me
actually liked the construction
side a little bit more.
I just really didn't know that
that was an avenue for me
because I wasn't exposed
to that,
at least not in my community,
you know, as a woman, right?
I see design as
both an art and problem-solving.
So, I saw an apprentice call
with "This Old House."
They were looking
for apprentices for the show.
So I looked at my husband
and I'm like,
"I'm really not a princess age,
but I want to learn.
And here's an opportunity.
And who's better to learn from?
Like they are it, you know?
That's, like,
the best of the best."
So I was selected for their
apprenticeship program in 2019,
and I had the opportunity
to work under their builders.
And that was absolutely
a game changer for me
because I had never worked
on a full home remodel,
and that was just, like,
the opportunity of a lifetime.
-And this is what I could use
a little bit of help with.
-Looks just like the pictures.
-Yeah, exactly.
I sent you pictures of it,
so you have an idea.
-Yeah.
The biggest mistake I feel
that people make
with small-space storage
is really not thinking
out of the box.
For instance, like,
a hallway closet.
You're like,
"Okay, I'll put in a rod,"
but what else could we do?
What else
could that closet hold?
I love the fact
that you and Crystal have,
like, his and hers closet.
-So do we.
-[ Laughs ]
-It's such a luxury, truly.
-I'm sure it creates
a peaceful environment.
-Absolutely.
-But I do see
that this closet
is underutilized
because you have
your clothes here,
you have stuff below here.
but I'm seeing
all this space
that could be utilized, right?
So, I have this concept
that I have that I love.
It's called the power closet.
-Okay.
-And basically what that is,
is just taking a closet
and maximizing its potential.
We're thinking vertically.
We're using the walls,
the backside of walls,
the doors to just be able
to store multiple things
in an efficient manner.
There are many
off-the-shelf closet systems
that we could utilize
without going, like,
full-on custom closet
because, as you and I know,
that could be very costly,
right?
And so that's not the point
of the power closet.
The point of the power closet
is for you,
a DIY-er, a homeowner,
to be able to implement
that system to suit your needs
and without breaking the bank.
-Exactly. I love that.
-So, I picked up a system
that I think
would work great for here.
It provides you
multiple streams of storage
or opportunities for storage.
You could get
a little bit more organized.
Take your brushes off
of your nightstand.
-Yeah, I got to.
-Keep everything together
so you're not having to look
in different places.
And bring a little bit more
uniformity within this space.
-Okay.
-You ready to get started?
-That sounds awesome.
-Okay, great.
-You
-You ready
-You ready to
-You ready to get
-You ready to get started?
-You ready to get started?
-That
-You ready to get started?
-That sounds
-You ready to get started?
-That sounds awesome.
-Okay, great.
-So, my closet -- it has mostly
my clothes and my shoes,
but it also has my art supplies
and a lot of miscellaneous
things that I keep.
I have to figure out a way
to make it all work in there
'cause that's my
only storage space
that's for me personally
in the apartment.
[ Laughs ]
-Needs will change, right?
So when I create my power closet
or different storage solutions,
I try not to make it so rigid
where it's, like, specific
for one thing.
You want to do it yourself?
Here, hold it.
We gotta drill it.
[ Drill whirring ]
Alright.
Alright, Jorge,
you went to work.
So, you removed the shelf
that was here, the rod,
and holding up the shelf
was a plate around the wall.
So, with there being holes left,
we just went ahead
and patched the holes.
It's quick-drying compound,
so in a couple of minutes
we're good to go.
It just needs a little bit
of sanding.
You could go back after the fact
and paint it.
So, this is the bottom.
-Mm-hmm.
-There are two that makes
the full vertical system.
-Mm-hmm.
-And what's great about this
is that they have
adjustable legs on there.
So that way, we could get
a nice level of this system.
We're out of level.
-Yeah.
-So, it looks like
we need to go up on the left.
Alright.
So, now that we have
the left to right,
we're gonna do
the front to back.
-Okay.
-So, this is only
about 14 inches deep.
As you can see [laughs]
-It's too big, yeah.
-this is a little overkill
for what we need.
So we'll break out
our torpedo level, okay?
So, next thing is that
we're gonna mark the holes
to fasten this to the wall
before we attach the top unit.
So, what we want to go ahead and
do now is check for the studs.
And this is
where our marking is.
It's picking up nothing.
This is our other marking.
And nothing over here.
So, we're gonna go ahead
and put those anchors in,
the heavy duty ones.
Oh, there you go. Okay.
♪♪
It's feeling good
right now, right?
[ Laughs ]
-Good, yeah.
I'm excited about having, like,
one of those cool closets
that I've never had
that has, like, you know,
two levels and you could put
your pants on one level
and your shirts on another and
just different storage options.
-There it is.
♪♪
♪♪
Bins and baskets -- I absolutely
think that they're essential
because they keep
your items together.
They corral it.
They give them their own home.
-I'm looking forward to
hanging my ties
-I am looking forward
to seeing it hung, as well.
We could go ahead
and get the doors on.
-I've never had
anywhere to hang my ties.
-Okay, well job well done.
-Mm-hmm.
Thank you so much, Kathryn.
-Great job. You're welcome.
♪♪
-So, in between patio
and other basement work,
I've been doing a few things.
One of the things
has been replacing the siding
on the side of the house that
was damaged from an old deck.
And it turned out there was
some other damage underneath.
We remediated that, as well.
Now the siding
is back on the house,
and we're nearly finished
with that.
We'll do some paint.
We'll put in just a couple
final tiles of siding
and get that buttoned up.
And then in the basement,
there's some ducts
that have huge gaps
between the connections.
And so I put some putty
and some mastic in those ducts
to kind of seal them
so they're nice and efficient.
Today I'm gonna learn how to
hang a door from a professional.
I've tried a few times,
and I think today
I might get it right.
-Hi, Mindy. Nice to meet you.
-Hi. Nice to meet you.
-Welcome to the jobsite.
-Thank you.
I'm Mindy Otten-Chen, and my
business is HandyMin Help.
Alright, let's get this
cardboard under here.
Today is the day
that we get to install
the door to the bathroom.
First thing we need to do is
check the floor, if it's level.
And that's gonna
help us determine
how to cut the jambs
on the door.
That means we have
a difference of 3/16".
Typically, you want about
1/2 inch below the door.
So we know we can cut off
about 1/4 inch
without it being a problem,
and that's great.
Do you want to try the jigsaw?
-Sure. I'll give it a shot.
-Keep the saw blade
on this side of the line
since this is the side
that gets cut off.
-Okay.
-Alright, very nice.
-Yeah, that was a lot nicer
than our jigsaw.
[ Both laugh ]
-My company is based
in Brooklyn, New York.
I mostly do small projects,
and that's everything
to do with carpentry.
Usually that means built-ins,
that means doing accent walls
or trim,
and up to the size of, like,
doing a kitchen renovation.
We're gonna use
these plastic shims today.
They're gonna be more durable
and last longer,
especially in a moisture area
such as the bathroom.
Basically, we want them
above the hinge.
We want to make sure
that we keep the level
straight on the same line
'cause if we tilt it at all,
it's not gonna give us
an accurate reading.
-Seems like you almost needed
three arms in that situation.
That was impressive.
-[ Laughs ]
Kind of until it's tight.
So, I'll hold.
You just have to press the tip
and then squeeze.
-Okay.
-Beautiful. Yeah.
Everything's looking great.
Once the door's in, we
can ship it the rest of the way.
-Every time I've hung a door
in the past, something is wrong,
and it's out of plumb
in one dimension or another,
such that the door kind of leans
and the door wants to open
or the door
leans the other direction
and the door wants to
naturally close.
And so I'm hoping today
I can get that right,
figure out how you hang a door
so that the door
doesn't move on its own
and that the door shuts
smoothly with even gaps
all the way around
and it's flush with the wall.
I really am looking forward to
a good door hang.
-Right, now that the door
is closed,
we can kind of see
where the gaps are
and where we need to keep
working on it.
So, right here
it's a little fat,
so we're gonna go ahead
and take a shim,
push it in and even that out.
-So, that pushed the jamb
closer to the door?
-Yeah.
So, we want this gap
to be even all the way down.
And then it gets
a little skinny.
That's where I wanted to kind of
suck it in a little bit more
before we shimmed it.
♪♪
So, that's starting
to look pretty good.
So, this gap is very wide.
And so basically,
to make it smaller,
we're just gonna put a shim in
between the jamb and that stud.
It's always fun when
I can, like, work on something
that's really well designed
and, like, has a really
beautiful impact at the end.
I also just enjoy, like,
making people's lives better.
So, the goal here
was to make sure the gap
is even all the way around
and that the door doesn't open
or close by itself.
Have a successful door install.
-So, the gap between the door
and the jamb is even,
and then the gap
between the jamb and the drywall
gets covered with trim.
-Yes.
-Okay.
-So, the last part
of hanging the door
is to just cut off the shims.
The most important part
of cutting off the shim
is making sure
that when you cut,
you cut towards the studs
so that you don't have
anything sticking out past.
'Cause once that's done,
we put on the casing.
The door is fully operational.
Now it's ready for trim,
which is gonna be one of
Zack's projects in the future.
♪♪
-Today,
hanging the door with Mindy
was really a valuable experience
for me.
I think the order
of operations is crucial.
I think the use of screws
instead of maybe just nails
is something
that I'm taking away
because it allows
for finer-tuned adjustments,
and it can hold things
in place a little tighter.
So, that was a big lesson
for me.
I am certain I will be hanging
a door again in the future,
and I'm looking forward
to applying the lessons
I learned today to making
those doors turn out well.
-The
-The one
-The one tool
-The one tool that
-The one tool that I
-The one tool that I don't
-The one tool that I don't
leave
-The one tool that I don't
leave home
-The one tool that I don't
leave home without
-The one tool that I don't
leave home without is
-The one tool that I don't
leave home without is my
-The one tool that I don't
leave home without is my knife.
I feel like it's the
most primitive tool,
but it's the tool
that gets everything done.
Also, my knife has,
like, this little screwdriver.
So, between the knife and
the screwdriver, I can do a lot.
♪♪
♪♪
-When it comes
to designing a home,
I always start with this
principle -- function first --
because a house
could be gorgeous,
but if it doesn't work for you,
it's not good design.
Your home should support you
and your daily lifestyle,
working, cooking, kids,
hosting, all of it.
What functions does
that space need to serve
to support your lifestyle?
Before you start buying stuff,
before you start bringing
in pieces into your home,
sketch it out with dimensions.
Does this setup support
how you live?
♪♪
-Today we're installing
our new vanity.
Today I'm just hoping
to learn from Kordian,
to see it in real time,
to be able to ask questions,
and to sort of understand what's
going on in your own house.
Since we were last here,
we got some new furniture,
living room, dining room.
We still have, like,
little things here and there,
like hang some stuff up
or put stuff together,
but for the most part,
this is the last major thing
where we need to, like,
get work done.
It's really starting
to feel like a full, real home.
-Hey. How are you?
-Hey.
Come on in.
-Alright, let's see it.
Alright, Jorge,
so this is the vanity
that we're gonna be replacing?
-Yeah.
-Okay, so, first thing
we're gonna do
is we're going to shut
the water off to this.
-Mm-hmm.
-We're gonna disassemble
the old hoses
that connect to the old faucet.
We're gonna take
the P-trap assembly off.
We'll cut the caulking
around the sink,
and hopefully we should be able
to pull this forward.
-Okay.
-So, this is the cold valve,
hot valve.
This is our P-trap nuts
that we'll be disconnecting.
And this is the arm
that we'll be cutting off.
These shut off valves here
are original with the bathroom,
so I highly recommend
we replace them in case
you have any emergencies
with this faucet in the future.
-I would really like that, yeah,
'cause the valves in this
apartment are pretty old.
-Alright.
That's the next thing we'll do
after we change this vanity.
-Okay. Awesome.
-So, we're gonna start
by shutting this off,
just like this.
The only thing that concerns me
with this installation
is that the shut-off valves
are old.
But we have some secondary
shutoffs in the crawl space,
so I think we'll be just fine.
Out we go.
I'm gonna pop this trim
off here.
♪♪
Alright, Jorge, so, the next
thing we have to do is --
The old vanity
was only 30 inches wide.
The new one is 42 inches wide.
So we're gonna go ahead
and measure from this wall
over to this trim,
mark 42 and about 1/8
so we give ourselves
a little bit of room.
Cut that piece of trim
with a multi-tool.
We'll slide the vanity
into place.
We're gonna cut
that existing piece of trim
that was here
and fit it back into place.
-Excellent.
-So, these are the two
shut-off valves
that we're gonna replace.
So that way,
you have new shut-offs
in the event
of any emergencies.
♪♪
So, the old shut-off valves
are now off.
We're gonna go ahead
and install the new ones.
So, this is our 5/8 nut.
This is gonna
go on the pipe first.
Then I have
this brass ferrule here.
I'm gonna slide that
over the copper pipe next.
Then we're going to take
our pipe compound,
put that on our brass ferrule.
Then we put our shut-off
valve on
and tighten this
5/8 nut on the back end
as much as we can.
And you're gonna go ahead
and grab two wrenches
just like this.
One of them
sits inside the shut-off,
and the other one
you tighten the nut with.
-Wow. It looks great already.
-Alright, Jorge, now our new
shut-off valves are installed.
Why don't you go ahead
and try to see
how easy it is
to open and close them?
-Sweet. Very nice.
-So, in the event of any
emergencies,
you almost need no effort
to turn these off.
-Yeah, mm-hmm.
With having little kids,
you just always need
a bunch of things.
And you want to have access
to them when you need them,
but you want to have a place
to put them
when you're not using them
so that your house
is not, like, total chaos.
So, having more functional
storage allows us to --
you know,
the little things that they use
when they take a bath --
and even us ourselves --
just having a place to put them
so that they're not in the way
when we're not using them.
-It is something that homeowners
could do themselves.
But being that you live
in a condo complex,
I would probably strongly
suggest to hire a plumber
because you could affect
your neighbors
if something goes
catastrophically wrong.
-Wow. Looks really good.
-So much counter space, right?
-A lot of counter space.
The marble really classes it up.
-Yeah.
-You like it?
-Yeah, I do.
-Alright, Jorge,
so, the water's back on.
I'm gonna go ahead and
turn these new angle stops on.
There's the cold.
There's the hot.
And why don't you go ahead
and do the honors
and turn the faucet on?
Completely normal
to get a little bit of air.
-Yeah.
-That'll go away
after a couple seconds.
-Very nice.
-Everything went pretty much
the way we expected it.
When we show up to a place,
usually the shut-off valves
are not in good condition,
so we're always ready
to replace them.
Alright, so, what do you think,
Jorge?
-Beautiful.
So much counter space,
so much storage.
The faucet is amazing.
Just love it.
-I'm glad you like it.
-Thank you so much.
-I wish them best of luck,
and I hope they enjoy that
vanity and they fill it up
because they've got a lot more
storage than they did before.
♪♪
-We're getting close
to the finish line
at Nick and Hannah's.
The drywall's up.
Everything's got a first coat
of primer,
and the plumbing and electric
is mostly complete.
Nick and Hannah have decided
to go with an epoxy floor,
and I've reached out
to my buddy Sean
to take care of that scope
of work for them.
Hey, Sean.
-How you doing today?
-Excellent. Yourself?
-Doing well.
So, what's going on?
They've already cleaned
and prepped and ground
and even primed
the basement floors.
-The most important step
of the process --
we're gonna lay down
the base coat,
which is the medium gray
that you guys had chose.
And we're gonna apply
all of the chips,
the lanai gray
that we went with on it.
-So, there were many options
of color for epoxy.
There were many options
of flake, and, as usual,
it took us a long time
to make that decision.
And as usual,
we landed on a gray.
And the chips help kind of even
out some of the uneven surfaces
that remain
after all of the prepping
and grinding you did do.
Some imperfections will remain
'cause we didn't do
the full grind.
-Exactly.
We did patchwork, filling in
any cracks, voids, craters,
anything like that
with a patch job.
And then we grind that
into the original floor.
So, it's pretty much the best
that you're going to get
at the budget given,
and then,
with the full broadcast,
that's where you hide anything
that might be
a little bit imperfections.
-Now they're gonna be
adding the first coat of epoxy.
Then flake goes on top of that.
And then, I'm told,
clear coat goes on top of that.
So, for the basement floors,
we wanted something
that could handle moisture well
and something
that was relatively low height
'cause we're already
dealing with low ceilings.
And we needed something
that could ideally be uniform
between the basement
and the garage.
An epoxy flooring seems
to satisfy all of those things.
-The epoxy flooring -- it's
very similar to a paint product,
whereas prep is 90% of the work.
All these little voids --
the chips won't stick to that.
5% the product, 5% the process.
You're gonna want to mush it
into everything
'cause now the chips
will stick in there.
Typically, basements being
a little more prone
to seeing wetter conditions,
I'm a little more of a fan
of the epoxy versus carpet
or floating floors.
With water heaters,
washers, and dryers,
you get a leak here and there
or pipe breaks,
it's a lot worse.
The epoxy -- you're just
either mopping it up
or squeegeeing it out,
and there's no real damage,
versus a carpet,
you got to rip it out,
you're dealing with mold.
Floating floors,
you get mold under the floor.
In the northeast here, you're
bringing your car in the garage.
You got rain and snow on it.
And it's all gonna seep
into the concrete.
This pretty much typically
seals off the floor
with a topical product,
so it's a lot easier.
-There's a wide range
of quality and finish
you can get with epoxy floors,
from, like, you know,
the perfectly flat, smooth,
high-gloss
kind of showroom finish
to still rather uneven and
therefore heavily flaked finish.
And we had to come
somewhere in the middle.
We also learned
about the chemicals.
Because we live
above the basement,
we were hoping that whatever
products we use in the basement
would not emit
harmful chemicals.
And epoxy is a product
that can emit
lots of volatile organic
compounds.
So we wanted to go for
a low VOC.
-After we lay down the
thick coat of two-part epoxy,
apply the chips.
Chip to rejection, we overflow
the floor with chips.
The most popular chip
is a vinyl chip.
This application, though,
is slightly different.
They're more
of a composite chip,
so the chip has a texture to it
and almost a pearlescent finish,
a little bit more
of a modern look.
But the next day will be
the clear-coat top coat,
which is a satin that we decided
to go with on this project.
And then once that
was dried 24 hours,
the next day, we come back
and we apply
the second top coat
on that, as well.
And that's the final
of the process for that.
-I'm looking forward
to seeing it when it's all done.
-Yeah, absolutely.
-Awesome. Thanks, Sean.
-Excellent. You got it.
♪♪
-So, I got to go to Nick
and Hannah's today
and wait for the inspector.
And Hannah's got some time off,
so we're gonna do, I guess,
a little crafting while we wait?
She actually said she may have
some crafts for my kids,
which will make me look like
father of the year.
-I'm gonna show you
how we can make them
each their own little toolbox.
-How apropos.
-I thought they might
appreciate that.
After all the work
he's done for us,
I get to show him
a little bit of the work
that I like to do with crafting.
So, I wanted to make a couple
little gifts for his kids.
-Did you make these pieces?
-I did.
I pre-cut everything for us.
If you want to just take
off these strips --
-You even taped it?
-I did.
-Curious to sort of catch up
with her on where she's at
'cause my older sister
is actually adopted,
but I'm pretty sure
a lot's changed in 40 years,
so I'm curious to see how
they're navigating that path.
Well, it's so nice of you
to think of my kids.
So, I mean, the whole reason
we kind of kicked off
this renovation
was for your kids hopefully.
How's that going?
-Yeah.
Well, we're in the waiting
process
to be matched with our child,
which is really exciting.
It can also be hard to be
patient 'cause it has been
a long time even getting
to this point, many years now.
So, we almost gained a family
member during this process.
[ Voice breaking ] Um, we were
matched for an adoption.
which was the highest high
I've ever had to be chosen.
Um, and then it
unfortunately didn't work out.
When it comes to, you know, some
of the stresses of renovation,
it is just a house.
-If you could advise yourself
a year and a half ago,
what have you learned
and what misconceptions
were you sort of wrong about?
-I really thought
that the process would be a lot
about judgment, like, are
you good enough to be a parent?
Um, throughout the process,
like, through your home study,
you have a social worker
who meets with you
-So, what is home study?
I'm not familiar
with that terminology.
-Having someone come
into your home
and make sure that it's safe
and ready for a child.
It's also giving them, really,
everything you can give
about yourself.
So, your financial history,
your medical history,
your family relationships.
-No privacy.
-[ Chuckling ] Yeah.
Our social worker
is really more about
her wanting
to be supportive of us
through the process,
which just meant so much.
-So, that was actually
less stressful
than you thought it would be.
-Yeah, yeah.
-Oh, that's interesting.
-Which was great. Yeah.
So, part of the process is
you create a profile,
which is basically
the story of you,
so that birth parents can get
to know you as much as possible,
at least that introduction
to who you are
and what your life is like
and why you're wanting to adopt.
And that is how
they initially make a selection.
Then, from there, you get
to meet, maybe virtually.
And after that, you're matched.
And obviously things
can change up to the time
the child is born, or even
after, depending on each state.
There's different, I think, what
they call revocation periods.
But usually that selection
remains
and you're able to have
a relationship
not just with the child,
but with their birth family,
as well.
Another misconception --
from what we've learned,
at least,
it seems like it's more similar
to other ways of having children
than not.
And so that's something
I would love
for more people to understand
so that, you know, when we share
that we're having a baby --
Sometimes people's
reaction is concern.
So, we'll say, you know, "We're
having a child by adoption."
And they're like,
"Are you sure?"
[ Both laugh ]
And we've certainly
given it a lot of thought.
I mean, you made the joke
earlier you don't just, like,
accidentally adopt a child.
-Right, yeah.
I don't think
there's any connection
that separates, you know,
an adopted child to their parent
than a biological child.
And I can say that
as someone who has a sibling
who is adopted
and one that isn't.
And she is as enmeshed
in our family as anyone else,
She's just a little shorter
than us.
[ Both laugh ]
-Yeah, well, I really
appreciate you sharing that.
It's wonderful
to hear good stories.
Again, I think there's more
good stories out there than not.
So I think that's good
for people to hear.
The questions I don't mind
'cause if it can be helpful
for people
to, you know, have me pass on
what I've learned,
I certainly want to learn
from others,
and so I don't mind
people asking questions.
I think just the more
positive people can be about it
because there's a lot
to be positive about.
-Right.
-It's a child. It's a family.
It's a beautiful thing.
Well, I appreciate your interest
and your support.
So, thank you.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
-You got there it, sonny boy?