This Old House

Weston; Modular Rooms (30x7)

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Two weeks into the new house raising, master carpenter Norm Abram meets architect Chris Adams for a tour of the first and second floors. At the Bensonwood shop in Walpole, New Hampshire, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey meets plumbing contractor Lynne Keating to see how she is running PEX water supply lines and ABS drainage pipe to the back-to-back kids bathrooms, both of which are assembled in the shop as one pre-built "module". Back in Weston, to keep pace with the fast building schedule, landscape contractor Roger Cook is already working on building the landscape plan. It calls for an elaborate drainage plan with a rain garden on the tail end to help protect the wetlands from surface runoff and contaminants. Homeowner Pete Favat and his daughter Juliette lend a hand building the rain garden and planting it with native plants and seeds. Back at the shop in New Hampshire, Norm sees how timberframe Rick Whitcomb crafts a complicated scarf joint both by computer and by hand. Back at the project site in Weston, host Kevin O'Connor sees how the scarf joints go together in the field. At the end of the day, with the final roof rafter in place, the homeowners join the builders for a traditional tree branch dedication ceremony.