The This Old House Hour

The Doors; Switch, Affordable Geothermal (18x7)

Air date: Nov 14, 2019

Kevin O'Connor begins by looking at the new exterior details of the house—which has turned from a one story ranch into a two story Dutch Colonial. He points out the white cedar shingled bell curved shape between the two stories. Inside, the first floor ceilings are pushed up a foot taller and the living space is opened up by an 18-inch beam that supports the second floor. Because the massive beam hangs down 4 inches below the new ceiling height, Tom Silva and Jeff Sweenor are turning the beam into a coffer and working to lay out other coffers to disguise the beam and define the space. They use premade coffer profiles to lay out on the floor in order to divide the space equally for the three divided coffers. Then they start cutting and transferring the boards up to the ceiling. Shayla and Scott want to incorporate Westerly granite into their landscape. Jenn visits a 4th generation granite cutting shop in Westerly. Rick Comolli shows her how he cuts the granite slabs that will be used for outdoor steps and then he teaches her to do a live edge detail on the front side. It’s time for the sophisticated septic system to be installed. With the 1500 gallon primary and secondary tank buried in the ground, installer Rick Pezza shows Richard the biologic cycle where oxygenated water returns to the main tank, nitrogen gas gets released into the atmosphere, and the remaining treated fluid goes through a sand filter. Kevin goes to Canfield, Ohio to see how the wooden four-paneled interior doors are made. He first meets Terry Baird, whose family has owned the business for over fifty years making custom and standard hardwood accent products. Manager Steve Stack shows Kevin the process—from grading the lumber and drying it—to the manufacturing and assembly stages. Back at the house Jeff shows his techniques for hanging the doors to make sure they swing effortlessly. Heath replaces a standard toggle switch with a reproduction antique push button switch to match the re