This Old House

Season 35

Episode 12: Lexington Colonial | Smart Solutions, Part 4 of 15

Norm visits the Hancock-Clarke house to see where Paul Revere stopped to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of the advancing British troops during the start of the American Revolution. Kevin recaps how the roofers applied new architectural shingles to tie the old house in with the new addition. Tom shows Kevin the progress on the new back deck, and how the architect has called for a corner stair leading down to the backyard. The framing requires two sets of traditional stringer systems, joined in the middle by a hip stringer and a series of jack stringers; the same idea as framing a hip roof. Kevin finds Richard and plumbing contractor Kevin Bilo fighting to keep the P-trap from the new bathtub on the second floor from interfering with the decorative ceiling of the new kitchen. They use a new German bath waste and overflow kit that allows for the flexibility needed to solve the problem. Kevin and Norm finish up the trim and decking on the new corner deck stair. For the ipe deckboards that are sharply mitered in the corner, Norm has settled on using a floating tenon connection to prevent them from opening up over time.