- 2 days ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00On Ask This Old House, our experts travel across the country to answer questions about your house.
00:18Today, Mauro teaches a homeowner how to paint their ceiling.
00:21And you're gonna get really close to the crown.
00:24Now you go back and you spread the paint.
00:27Then, Nathan discusses the options available in home siding.
00:32And do your floors squeak?
00:34Boy, that floor has a lot to say there, doesn't it?
00:37Tommy helps a homeowner make his floors nice and quiet.
00:41All that on Ask This Old House.
00:52Hello. Hi Mauro. Welcome.
00:54Nice to meet you, Melissa.
00:55Nice to meet you. Come on in.
00:56Nice house. Look at this.
00:58Thank you. This is our little home.
01:00We've been working really hard to finish the kitchen over the last year.
01:03So we renovated all of this.
01:05Looks pretty good.
01:06Yeah, thank you.
01:07Great job here. Looks nice.
01:09That's the first thing I always look at.
01:11And then now we're focused on finishing up our living room.
01:14All right. So what are we doing here in this room?
01:16So we're trying to finish the ceiling.
01:18Okay.
01:19We painted the walls.
01:20We put tape up to do the molding.
01:22And when we peeled it off, we took away like a lot of the old paint.
01:25So it's all chipped in the corners.
01:26You didn't paint the ceiling.
01:28We did not paint the ceiling.
01:29Came already done.
01:30Yes.
01:31All right. And then when you pull the tape off, some of the paint came right up.
01:34That's right.
01:35We can fix that.
01:36All right.
01:37Great.
01:38So do we have a color for this ceiling already?
01:39I'm thinking just like white.
01:40Nice and clean.
01:41Bright.
01:42Nice and clean?
01:43Mm-hmm.
01:44That's a good idea because you're going to brighten up this place a lot.
01:45Yeah.
01:46All right. So are you ready?
01:47I'm ready.
01:48I'm going to step out, get some materials, what we need, and we're going to work.
01:50Okay.
01:51That sounds good.
01:53Okay, Melissa.
01:55Before paint, preparation has to be done.
01:57Yep.
01:58And one part of the preparation is for us to remove as much of this furniture to the next room.
02:03Okay.
02:05Well, couch is protect, floor is protect, and I'd like to find out what's up there.
02:11So I want to pull this light down and let's find out what we have.
02:16Whoa, whoa.
02:20Well, what we have here is like this blown-in insulation.
02:24Uh-huh.
02:25That makes a huge dust when you open this.
02:27Yeah.
02:28Pull the lights down, so.
02:29Yep.
02:30In this case, we're going to put this light back.
02:32We're going to have to cut around with the brush, nice and easy, just like that.
02:36Okay.
02:37And then we roll the field.
02:39Great.
02:40But before we do that, we have to protect all the walls.
02:43So what kind of tape are we using?
02:45We're using what we call painter's tape.
02:48Okay.
02:49It comes in different colors and different thickness.
02:52So this one here is like a medium adhesion.
02:54Yep.
02:55It can go on the surface really well.
02:56But you have a limit time that you can keep the tape on the surface.
02:59Oh, got it.
03:00Okay?
03:01And then you have to pull the tape off.
03:02Probably this is what happens over there.
03:05Wrong kind of tape or you wait too long to pull out.
03:08Yeah.
03:09When we moved in, we left it on there.
03:10And so I bet you we just left it on too long.
03:12See?
03:13Yeah.
03:14I know.
03:15You have the time to put on and then you have to respect the limit of time for you to take
03:17it off.
03:18Got it.
03:19Move the tape.
03:20All right.
03:21Let's go to work.
03:22All right.
03:23Time for you and I to do our cutting lines.
03:29Okay?
03:30What I like when a cutting line is on the ceiling, I like the angle brush.
03:33Okay.
03:34Because I can see everything that I'm doing because of that angle there.
03:38And you're going to get really close to the crown.
03:42Okay.
03:43But really with this tip here.
03:44Okay.
03:45And then you spread the paint.
03:47And we don't need to use primer or anything before we do this?
03:50If you have like a raw plaster never painted before, then you use a primer.
03:55Got it.
03:56Okay?
03:57And another situation when you have some glossy paint and you want to turn into a flat finish.
04:01Yep.
04:02Then you put a coat of primer on it.
04:03Okay.
04:04All right.
04:05But other than that, this has been done with the flat interior paint.
04:08So we're going to go with the white on top.
04:10Got it.
04:11Okay?
04:12Okay.
04:13Cool.
04:14So here's where we go.
04:15You go like this.
04:16Okay.
04:17And use the front tip.
04:18Yes.
04:19Spread the paint.
04:20Just like that.
04:21You want to give it a try?
04:23Sure.
04:24I'll try it.
04:25Here we go.
04:26Let's see.
04:27How much paint do I put on the brush?
04:28Just enough.
04:29Just don't dig too much.
04:30Yes.
04:31Nice and easy.
04:32Go really close.
04:33Just don't need to go fast.
04:35So it's nice and easy.
04:36Yeah.
04:37Okay.
04:38Now you go back and you spread the paint.
04:41Do we have to use ceiling paint in specific or can I use wall paint as well?
04:45You can use whatever you want.
04:47It's about preference.
04:48Sometimes you have like the wall which is most popular finish is eggshell.
04:51Yep.
04:52You want to see eggshell on the ceiling.
04:54But I like the flat because the flat doesn't attract so much light.
04:58Got it.
05:00I don't see any paint on your hands or on yourself.
05:03Pretty good.
05:04That's a pro.
05:05Would I get an A?
05:06You get an A+.
05:07Yeah.
05:08Well, when you're painting, there's three important things for you to know about.
05:15So number one, the correct amount of paint on your brush.
05:18Mmm.
05:19Number two, speed.
05:21Number three, consistence.
05:23Mmm.
05:24Throughout.
05:25Then the paint job will fly.
05:30When it's time to roll, right?
05:32Same thing again.
05:33The three steps are?
05:34How much paint's on your roller, speed, consistency.
05:38Beautiful.
05:39Great job.
05:40And you go just like that.
05:42Not a lot of pressure.
05:44Just enough to release the paint from the roller.
05:47I see that you're holding it at an angle.
05:49Am I supposed to do that or do I just do it straight up?
05:51You are.
05:52Well, number one, you don't want your roller to be right on top of your face like that.
05:56Ah, that's usually how I do it.
05:57Because you're going to be not only the ceiling but yourself also, right?
06:00You're going to have an angle like this so you can see better what you are doing.
06:06Okay.
06:07Want to give it a try?
06:08Alright, I'll do my best.
06:09Alright.
06:10Alright.
06:11This is quite the arm workout.
06:19Oh, it is.
06:20Who needs a gym?
06:23First coat is done.
06:29Let's let it dry.
06:30We'll come back and we put the second and final coat on.
06:34It is the same process as we did before.
06:37Cut in the edges and then we can use the roller.
06:40What do you think?
06:41Look at the ceiling.
06:42Looks so much better.
06:43Better, brighter.
06:47Yeah, the room actually looks finished finally.
06:48And even the walls looks much better now with that ceiling collar.
06:49Yeah, complete.
06:50Well, we did it.
06:51So it looks great.
06:52Now you know how to do it.
06:53Yes.
06:54And I know you have more ceilings to do around your house.
06:58But if you just need some help let me know.
06:59Of course.
07:00But you'll do a great job.
07:01Thank you so much.
07:04Oh, look at you guys with your meters.
07:05Are you serving coffee with this conversation?
07:06You can if you want some.
07:07What am I looking at?
07:08So you're looking at kind of the history of electric utility meters that we'll see on homes that we have.
07:11So one of the first ones that we used to see was the analog meter.
07:12This glass case.
07:13Macanel.
07:14Yeah, I know you have more ceilings to do around your house.
07:15Yes.
07:16But if you just need some help let me know.
07:17Of course.
07:18But you'll do a great job.
07:19Thank you so much.
07:20I really appreciate your help.
07:22Oh, look at you guys with your meters.
07:27You serving coffee with this conversation?
07:30You can if you want some.
07:31What am I looking at?
07:32So you're looking at kind of the history of electric utility meters that we'll see on homes that we have.
07:37So one of the first ones that we used to see was the analog meter.
07:40This glass case.
07:41Mechanical.
07:42Yeah.
07:43Mechanical.
07:44You see the rotating dial in there, right?
07:45And you look at it.
07:46The more power you use, the faster it spun.
07:47The faster that went.
07:48The clock up.
07:49You know, you'd see it.
07:50And then someone would have to walk by your house from the utility company, write down the
07:53meter number, write down the total amount of kilowatt hours you used.
07:56Subtract it from what you used the previous month and send you a bill.
07:58Yeah.
07:59Right?
08:00So that was the old school analog style.
08:01Analog indeed.
08:02This guy?
08:03Digital.
08:04So there's a push to go onto these.
08:05And most of us probably have the digital versions now.
08:07The nice thing about this, it's a little more accurate, but it also has the ability to have
08:10one-way communication, meaning they can remotely read the meter.
08:13Nobody walking by.
08:14Nobody has to walk by.
08:15You can drive by or it can go back to the utility.
08:17So then what's that?
08:18So that is Smart Meter 1.0.
08:20These offer a little more information.
08:22They start to monitor your energy usage.
08:24These have the ability for two-way communication.
08:26And the thing for the two-way is you have the ability to remotely shut those off.
08:31So if you have an issue at a house, you have first responders coming, you have a gas leak,
08:35a fire going on, the utility company can know before anyone arrives, disconnect the power.
08:40So the house is sending information to the utility one-way, but the utility is sending
08:43direction back.
08:44That's the second one.
08:45Correct.
08:46That's right.
08:47And this is going to happen every 15 minutes.
08:48So it's going to ship that data every 15 minutes so they know what's going on.
08:50It's going to be through real time.
08:51What's coming though is Smart Meter 2.0.
08:53So the next version of this will be real time.
08:56So we're talking about a lot of data, high resolution, instantaneously.
08:59So they can see exactly at any moment, if you lose power in that house, they know it.
09:03If there's an outage in that area, they can see exactly which houses are affected.
09:07So it gives them a lot more granularity.
09:09The other part of it for the consumer is that they're allowed to log in from their computer
09:14and see how much energy they're using real time.
09:16So excited he gets with that.
09:17So excited.
09:18It's the log in.
09:19Well, you get to use an actual app versus seeing the dial spin and taking a guess.
09:22It gives you data, right?
09:23And then you can affect energy behavior and hopefully reduce the load in that house.
09:26He loves this.
09:27He does.
09:28I do.
09:29You know what?
09:30I do now, too.
09:31Thank you for the information.
09:32I don't even need coffee to get through this conversation.
09:33It's actually pretty interesting.
09:38Hey, Nathan.
09:39Hey, Kevin.
09:40How's it going?
09:41It's going all right.
09:42Looks like we've got some siding discussion going on.
09:43Yeah.
09:44I'm getting a lot of phone calls about siding jobs right now.
09:45Better than me.
09:46I know.
09:47They're doing it.
09:48It's a good job.
09:49But people always have questions.
09:50I presume they're asking you, what should they use and what's the best for them?
09:53And it all is driven off of their budget, of course.
09:55But I want to go over some of the most basic ones, especially the ones we see here in New
09:59England.
10:00Start with the most cost-effective one is vinyl siding.
10:02Yeah.
10:03It's a good product.
10:04Double four here.
10:05Nice white color.
10:06Double four meaning you're going to get?
10:07Four-inch exposure, four-inch exposure.
10:09So you're running two courses at one time.
10:11Right.
10:12It goes up nice and quick.
10:13Okay.
10:14And people love it.
10:15They can go over their old siding with it, which we see a ton.
10:18Yep.
10:19You're going to see this a lot on new construction jobs.
10:21You're going to see it a lot on siding remodels.
10:24Again, easy to put in, easy to maintain.
10:26Just a good product.
10:27I actually like the way it snaps in.
10:29You know, you get a nice, tight joint right there.
10:32So your installation is going to go quickly.
10:34And from the homeowner's perspective, satisfaction is going to be instant.
10:37And they're never going to repaint that.
10:39No.
10:40No.
10:41Pressure wash it once a year and you're good.
10:42What I like too about vinyl siding is if they're replacing a window or a door, I can
10:45go unzip everything, do the job, and then just zip it back up.
10:48We see it everywhere, although not our first choice for historic homes, but a cost-effective
10:52option.
10:53Very good.
10:54We are very partial to wood.
10:55And I am too.
10:56Cedar is my favorite material to work with.
10:58I like cedar shingles.
10:59I like cedar clapboards.
11:01They have a timeless look.
11:02You see them on a lot of houses in the area.
11:04These ones have got primers on them and natural material, tapered, which is key for you.
11:10So I can adjust my coursing.
11:11I can adjust my exposure.
11:12So I can take my cedar clapboards here.
11:15Traditionally, it's going to be a four-inch exposure.
11:17Which is the exposure being this dimension.
11:18The face to the weather.
11:19And then as I get close to maybe the top of a door or window, I can adjust this ever so slightly
11:24to hit the top to keep that clean line.
11:26So that is not something that you can do, for example, with vinyl, whereas you can make
11:30the coursing like that.
11:31You get what you get with the vinyl.
11:32Exactly.
11:33Once you set your first course down below, that's driven all the way up the wall.
11:36In terms of cost, you got a sense of the difference between vinyl and wood?
11:41Wood's going to be the most expensive right now.
11:43And then vinyl's going to be the cheapest.
11:44Okay.
11:45And then in terms of maintenance, as I said, never going to repaint that.
11:48How frequently are you going to repaint this?
11:49Let's say every seven to ten years.
11:51Yeah.
11:52And there may be some sanding, too.
11:53So there's a little bit more maintenance with that.
11:54Okay.
11:55So probably in the middle?
11:56Yeah.
11:57In the middle, we're going to go with fiber cement siding.
11:59You can get it primed.
12:00You can get it painted with a finish coat.
12:02We have a cedar mill face here and a smooth face.
12:04Okay.
12:05You can even get it for different exposures we were talking about.
12:07So here, this is a four inch.
12:09So we have a nice four inch exposure.
12:11Here, we have a seven inch exposure.
12:13This one's raw.
12:14No primer or paint on it.
12:15This is a man-made material.
12:16Man-made.
12:17The name pretty much tells us all we need to know.
12:19Fiber cement.
12:20It's a cementitious material.
12:21Yep.
12:22Cement, sand, and wood pulp.
12:24Really?
12:25Yeah, wood pulp.
12:26Yeah.
12:27Well, despite the fact that I might have some wood pulp, it really stands up.
12:29It is rot resistant.
12:30It is pest resistant.
12:31It's a really good product.
12:32And if you're going to have to repaint cedar, well, vinyl never.
12:36Cedar, say every seven years.
12:38How frequently do you have to repaint this?
12:4010 to 15 years.
12:41So that's a big bonus.
12:42Yeah, definitely.
12:43Do you enjoy working with it?
12:44I don't mind it.
12:45I like snapping it.
12:46I get a nice clean cut.
12:47You don't get as much adjustability with your exposure to hit your tops of your doors
12:52and windows.
12:53So this one's set up for four inches.
12:55Four inches, you're good if you try and shrink it a little bit.
12:57You get a little bit more rock.
12:58So as you crawl up your sidewall, as you look up, you would see a little bit of a shadow
13:02line there, which you don't really want to see.
13:04So less adjustment there.
13:06Maybe choose a different fiber cement product if you want different exposures.
13:10Or you have to think way ahead.
13:11You need to be pulling measurements to the tops of your doors and windows, making sure
13:14you're running your courses perfectly to hit.
13:17And in terms of cost, where does it fall?
13:19I would say it's right in the middle.
13:21I would say most expensive, right in the middle.
13:24Vinyl is going to be your cheapest.
13:25But then even within each type of siding, there's more expensive options.
13:29Sure.
13:30Good.
13:31Well, it's nice to see the options here in front of us.
13:33Good.
13:40Hey, Tommy.
13:41Hey, Anthony.
13:42How are you?
13:43Thanks for coming.
13:44Oh, my pleasure.
13:45Wow.
13:46Looks like you've done some work in here.
13:47Yeah.
13:48Extensive renovations last year.
13:50Very nice.
13:51This is my grandparents' house.
13:53Oh, really?
13:54My wife and I bought it last year.
13:55We have a two-and-a-half-year-old son.
13:57Wow.
13:58How long did your grandparents own it?
14:00Over 70 years.
14:01Wow.
14:02Yeah.
14:03It's been in the family, and we're lucky to have another generation come through.
14:06Well, it's a keeper.
14:07Absolutely.
14:08Well, it really looks good.
14:09But what did you call me for?
14:10Oh, we have one persistent problem upstairs.
14:12Oh, yeah?
14:13Upstairs?
14:14Yep.
14:15All right.
14:16We'll lead the way.
14:17Yeah, the stairway is really nice.
14:20I like the metal balusters and the flat handrail.
14:22Kind of contemporized it.
14:24Yeah, we replaced the treads, and then we pulled up the carpet because we love the flooring underneath.
14:28Oh, yeah.
14:29It's beautiful.
14:30Yeah, it's existing to the house.
14:31And then this is my son's bedroom here.
14:33Oh, it's nice and bright.
14:34And we run into some issues when we were putting him to bed at night with this floor right outside of his door.
14:41Boy, that floor has a lot to say there, doesn't it?
14:43Yeah.
14:44It's very hard to be discreet.
14:45Yeah, I can see right there that somebody tried to tighten it up by nailing it right down through.
14:51Well, I've made a mock-up, and I brought it with me, and I can show you exactly what's going on with the floor system and the structure below.
14:57Awesome.
14:58Let's take a look.
14:59It's downstairs.
15:01All right, Anthony, this represents your floor system so you can understand what's down below the floor.
15:07You start off with the finished floor, the subfloor, and the structure.
15:11The subfloor would be nailed to the structure with a nail like that.
15:15And what happens is your house expands and contracts all the time with humidity and dryness.
15:20In some cases, if the nail isn't into the structure nice and tight or if there's a void or a knot or something like that,
15:27when the structure expands, it gets bigger and it can actually pull the nail up as the board is swelling.
15:35And then when it dries, the nail is left up ever so slightly.
15:39Now you have something that's loose right here.
15:43And when you step on it, this structure and the subfloor is squeaking on the nail itself.
15:51So what we need to do is we need to tighten all these up like they took the nails upstairs and they drove nails down through the finished floor,
16:00through the subfloor, into the structure and put it down ever so slightly.
16:05Bringing the sandwich all down and making it nice and tight.
16:10Okay.
16:11Okay.
16:12But we don't want to see the head to the nail.
16:13But they actually make a kit that has this attachment here and a special screw that goes through the attachment like that.
16:22And you drive the screw and it goes through both pieces with this tight to the top of the finished floor.
16:27It goes through the finished floor, through the subfloor, into the structure, pulling all of this sandwich down nice and tight.
16:34All right.
16:35So now if you look at the screw and I take it out of the attachment right here, you can see the smooth part of the shank and where the thread begins.
16:42There's a little line that goes all the way around the screw right there.
16:46And that is designed so the torque of the drill driver snaps the head off and you'll end up with two pieces.
16:53And the screw has broken off right below the finish of the floor and the floor won't squeak anymore.
17:01And we'll never see it.
17:02That's right.
17:03First thing we need to do is find a joist down below.
17:07And the joist should, if these nails are into the structure right here, that helps us.
17:12Unfortunately, I don't think the house is framed 16 on center.
17:15It's probably random framed.
17:17So if I just lay my tape measure up like that and I say, well, okay, there should be a joist here, another one over here.
17:25Well, I know there's got to be one there by this wall.
17:28But let's say if I take and I try to find it by sound.
17:32That sounds, that sounds a little hollow right there.
17:42So I'm looking for a sound change or a more solid sound.
17:46Let's put it that way.
17:50Hear the change in the sound?
17:51Yeah.
17:52Right at the 24 mark.
17:53Let's try one right there.
17:54So what I'll do is I'll take this bit with a very small amount of thread on it and a smooth shaft.
18:10So when I drill through the floor with this part of it, I get through the floor into the subfloor.
18:15If there's no structure underneath, I should be able to push this right down.
18:19If there's structure underneath, it will pull the drill down with it.
18:23So we'll give it a try.
18:25Let's try.
18:26I'm going to try on the 24 number.
18:28So let's see what happens.
18:30No structure there.
18:51There's nothing there.
18:54All right.
18:55So I'm going to try right here.
18:58There's one right there.
19:07So that thread is into the joist.
19:09I can feel it pulling down.
19:10Now if I put the drill in reverse and I try to hold the drill down, if there's no structure
19:16there, I will be able to hold the drill.
19:19If there is structure there, the thread will push me out.
19:23So it pushed me out a little bit.
19:25So there is structure there.
19:26So let's put a little piece of blue tape right there.
19:29Shows where the joist is.
19:32Now if we take a measurement, let's go from the edge of the floor in here over 12 inches.
19:3812 inches here.
19:43You get 12 inches that lines up with that.
19:47So what I'm going to do is we'll try and drill a screw and see if it grabs.
19:54Is there anything we want to listen for or you'll feel it?
19:57Well, you'll actually hear it.
19:59You should hear it snap or pop.
20:01Okay.
20:02And if I do it right and it grabs into enough structure,
20:05it'll snap right below the finish level of the floor.
20:15All right.
20:16Why don't you stand on the board right there?
20:18Push everything down tight.
20:20Ready?
20:21Yep.
20:24Didn't snap.
20:26Okay.
20:27Let me try one more right here beside it.
20:33This old framing structure could be a little bit too soft.
20:45Oh, that snapped off right there.
20:47Okay.
20:48So we're into structure right there.
20:49Let's try one more right here.
20:51I'll just push down and pull the trigger full blast.
20:57There you go.
20:58There we go.
20:59Pull it up.
21:00All right.
21:01Now let's try stepping on that again.
21:03Okay.
21:06All right.
21:07Let's try one more right beside that one.
21:10Full blast.
21:14Boom.
21:15All right.
21:16All right.
21:17So walk in from the hall.
21:18Okay.
21:21That's pretty quiet.
21:22I'll walk out.
21:24So much better.
21:25So much better.
21:26Yeah.
21:27Yeah.
21:28So it doesn't sound too good or it sounds good.
21:30The lack of sound is good.
21:32All right.
21:33So now what we got to do is we got to fill the holes.
21:35Okay.
21:36So we get some wax sticks, three different colors.
21:38You see there's different tones in the floor.
21:40Yep.
21:41So you just pick one and go back and forth, work it into the hole to fill it up.
21:45I'm not going to match it exact, but we want to try to blend it.
21:48So blend the colors together.
21:50A little bit of this, a little bit of that.
21:54Keep working it in, working it around.
21:57Go back to this one.
22:01Go back to this one.
22:06Buff it.
22:10Looks pretty good.
22:11Cleans right in.
22:12Yep.
22:13All right.
22:14Let's see how it looks now that it's all cleaned up.
22:16Whoa.
22:17I think it looks pretty good.
22:18Can't even tell we're up here drilling holes.
22:20Give it a little test.
22:21Oh, wow.
22:22What a difference.
22:23Don't even hear anything.
22:24That's so much better.
22:25Well, hopefully all you hear is your son snoring.
22:27Thank you so much for coming, Tommy.
22:28My pleasure.
22:29So if you've got questions about your house, we'd love to hear from you.
22:32Until then, I'm Tom Silva for Ask This Old House.
22:40Next time on Ask This Old House, Ross discusses the advancements in water tank technology.
22:50And works with a homeowner to install a solar thermal unit.
22:54Then, do you have problems with houseplant pests?
22:58Jen gives advice on how to get rid of them.
23:01And Nathan helps a homeowner get better access to their attic by installing pull-down stairs.
23:08All that on Ask This Old House.
23:31Won't let it come?
23:32Pu Phil it.
23:33If you will, help your house.
23:34And mom, you will, help your house retreat.
23:35Gobierno is here and see itch in the rain.
23:36That's very important.
23:38Book 추가 for creating a heavy damage to your homeowner.
23:40He wants you to DONOPL source relaxes with chairs.
23:41Maybe and there as you can ruin the alternate Costa Rica cooling.
23:42Here we aremekanized.
23:43We've happened in the next step.
23:44We have a comfortable total attached builtaks plop vacancy.
23:45For e.
23:45Don't you have to begin this?
23:47Hey, guys.
23:48But what did you tell me?
23:49When you're notalia teenagers,acher these, How many succeeding,
23:50You'll be able to gain yourmmm Taiwan for the остав trava.
23:51Here we have problems with this collection as planned.
23:52Like it was at traffic culture as well delivered
Comments