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Ask This Old House S24E18 Nola Episode 18 Engsub
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00:04on ask this old house our experts travel across the country to answer questions about your house
00:18today Nathan heads to a historic neighborhood in New Orleans to help some homeowners install
00:24shutters then Jen and Lee talk fertilizers organic versus synthetic when to use and how much and do
00:35you know how many smoke detectors you should have and where to put them he answers these
00:39questions for a homeowner on ask this old house
00:57hi Emily hey hi Lena hey Nathan nice to meet you yeah this is a beautiful neighborhood tell me a
01:03little bit about it we're in the bywater here in New Orleans um super historic neighborhood really
01:08great walkability it's beautiful these homes are all old historic styles I love it we personally
01:14have a side hall cottage which we truly fell in love with have you guys been here long a little
01:19over a decade we've been in this neighborhood yeah and we've owned the home for four years oh nice
01:23congratulations thank you you made some improvements over the years we have yes absolutely you know an
01:28old house it needs some work it needs some love so you're only about these shutters yeah we have
01:32these beautiful shutters but they've been there a while they've started to deteriorate and you know
01:37we like to close them during hurricanes and storms and we can't quite do that right now yeah these are
01:41getting soft I can see a little bit of rot but you do live in a historic area I'm sure
01:44you know that
01:44there's the rules that the city dictates when you're working on historic homes so they're gonna talk
01:49to us about things like wood material that we use hinge style hinge location even paint colors it's
01:55good to know someone in the area that has all those details like we have a friend that's in the
01:59area Scott great carpenter he's gonna come by and give us a hand while we're waiting for him let's take
02:04the shutters off let's do it yeah these old cast iron hinges are really unique this set of shutters
02:11has three on each side I had to loosen up the screws on the middle one so I could swing
02:16the shutter out
02:17and take it off as it's intended pops right off those pins when we put these back we're not going
02:22to put this third hinge on only go top and bottom so we can take them off easily hey Scott
02:34hey guys
02:35how you doing good morning these are the homeowners Lena and Emily good good look at this beautiful
02:43shutter this is incredible this is perfect so we spoke that we are in a very historic area here what
02:48do we need to do to fall in line basically what you're doing right now is uh we've applied for
02:53permits with HDLC mm-hmm they have guidelines they want to keep the neighborhoods as close to the
02:57original content as they were originally constructed back in these so you want to kind of keep in line
03:02with that they apply and they give the committee permits of what they want to do and ideas what they
03:08want to do they approve it yes or no okay they're staying pretty much what they had before originally
03:11going back we just put a newer fresher look yep the shutters they had before a little rotten
03:16these are Spanish cedar which is very conducive to the element and climate here in New Orleans perfect
03:21but this is a little bit better shape than the rotten softer ones we had before and then how
03:25about the hardware the hardware is actually replica of cast iron antique historical shutters we have
03:30the hinges a slide bolt and a catch lat so you said we're gonna go from three hinges down to
03:35two
03:35hinges exactly also two hinges more conducive to what's the look of the rest of the neighborhood so
03:40the city is okay with that they approve that so perfect three to two no problem city's happy
03:45everybody's happy all right awesome let's get to work all right to get started we will Dutchman in
03:52the old mortises for the middle hinge we aren't going to replace then we can work on the fit of
04:11the shutters by measuring and cutting the bonds to height 34 9 16 to the bottom then Scott can plane
04:24the edges at a slight angle to ensure a tight fit when the shutters are closed it's important to
04:35keep track of the orientation of the shutters during these steps since we are cutting them to fit when
04:40they are closed not when they are open reference marks can be helpful with this step now we can
04:47mortise the shutters to receive the new hinges since we've exposed raw wood we'll hit all the raw edges of
05:01the shutters and the window with primer to protect it from the weather finally we can mark pre-drill and
05:15screw
05:15in the hinges with the hinges in place we can secure the locking hardware hi Scott
05:56all right open them up working good wow oh my gosh wow so nice they're beautiful look at that so
06:05you got
06:06your slide bolt at the top there so that's going to connect you once you have it shut you also
06:10have
06:10these catches so those will help hold the bottom a little bit homework for you guys though all right
06:14so we did some cutting we did some priming if you could touch that up with a little bit of
06:18paint and
06:18then any other little scratches or nicks that might have happened during install if you just touch those
06:22up be good to go thanks y'all so much for everything thanks for coming all the way to New
06:26Orleans
06:27welcome and we couldn't have done it without Scott today so Scott thanks for everything you're welcome
06:30hope you enjoy your new shutters thank you y'all are the best see you guys
06:45what do you like you like organic what do you like something what do you think I think you're
06:49you guys talking fertilizer behind my back
06:54yes we are we're discussing synthetic versus organic and really how much has changed in our
07:01industry over like the past 10 years which I want to talk about but for my benefit can you just
07:05pull
07:05it back a little bit let's go a little higher just fertilizer in general I mean like what is it
07:10what's it doing and what are the differences when do I use it what do you got I mean basically
07:15they
07:15are different ingredients whether it's synthetic or organic and that they are fine-tuned to a specific
07:21need of your plant so like going back when Roger would say right plant right place right fertilizer
07:28right place you'd have to know your plants yes your soil conditions and your existing lawn so every bag
07:35is a different concoction and you gotta know what you're actually grabbing but and I guess what's on
07:40the bag yep these numbers here MPK numbers here NPK yes so you have nitrogen phosphate and potassium
07:48okay okay and the nitrogen is good for in the lawn area if this number was higher it'd be good
07:54for
07:54grasses so it gives you that extra punch of color exactly and that's what we like right right 100%
07:59a lot of colors we gotta do that right and then the middle number the phosphorus phosphorus for the root
08:03system and also for a little punch color things like that potassium or K for the overall strength of
08:08the plant so the overall strength and structure I presume these are organics over here yeah do they have the
08:13number system as well they do so and the organics come from natural materials you're gonna get it
08:19from compost manure bone meal right so this one is manufactured when you say manufactured from organic
08:27from organic materials and there's a whole laundry list this is your regular compost and then this one is
08:33milorganite yes milorganite love this this is really good for the lawn as well as your flower beds and
08:38everything out human waste oh so like literally the same effect of manure I mean correct human
08:44manure I guess yes okay but each of these pellets and sizes have been just they're specific to the
08:50NPK ratio on the bag so but the deal with organics it takes it a little bit longer to break
08:55down because
08:56like the earthworms and the microbe for the soil overall yeah the microbes in the soil that they break it
09:02down and then once that is digested the plant it can uptake those nutrients where this is like a quick
09:08punch boom green it up grow fast so generally speaking more potent on the synthetic side a
09:14little less potent on the organic you gotta look at it it's okay think of your if your plant is
09:18sick
09:18that's gonna be your antibiotic that's gonna be your treatment so if you want fast acting go synthetic
09:23ideally I try to go organic but sometimes you need a supplement with synthetic so that was my next
09:29question like are you strictly an organic fertilizer person or strictly a synthetic or can you mix and match
09:35like how would you mix and match I would mix and match this these two here the synthetic and the
09:40malagonite with doing the lawn okay and then also if I want to put this in like maybe some flower
09:45beds
09:46and things like that this works really well give it a nice punch and I would do the same with
09:49you know
09:50everything's established but all my plants aren't blooming I might give it a kick of the middle number
09:55or use something called super phosphate phosphorus and that gives for the blooms and the fruits right or if
10:03you know your roots are weak you know they need some more attention you hit it with the last number
10:07the
10:07potassium so I'm hearing sort of long-term consistent good soil health a little faster acting higher
10:14concentration I don't get the sense that I can use too much of that I mean obviously I don't want
10:19to kill my lawn
10:20with too much compost it's a very good question right so like so if there's too little you know it's
10:25not your
10:26plants gonna suffer it's gonna struggle like you want to give it that little dose of vitamin to like get
10:31it back to health but if it's too
10:33if you put too much in excess you could also burn your plant and in this situation more is definitely
10:40not better and it's because environmental impacts you know heavy rains it'll leach into the ground go
10:46into watersheds create algae blooms and lakes you know about regulations right correct yep you have to
10:51be aware where you live in and you know where you are and read the directions on these things you
10:55know what
10:55I mean but this is the best way to go for like a lawn situation but you have to be
11:00careful about like
11:01like Jen says the water situations and things like that so if you do go on the synthetic route use
11:06it
11:06appropriately correct it in the right amounts and understand it yeah yeah more is not better
11:11people have a tendency it's just human nature to put more you think it's gonna be better just follow the
11:16ratio on the bag there's a formula okay cool yeah good information and then I guess finally is this all
11:21you
11:21guys talk about when you're pretty much right hey it's important man house fires are one of the
11:33leading causes of damage to a home they can escalate very quickly from a very small flame to a full
11:38-blown
11:38fire in less than two and a half minutes causing over 10 billion dollars in damage annually so when a
11:44homeowner reached out about installing hardwired smoke detectors in her home I thought this was a
11:47perfect opportunity to reach out to the local fire chief and have him help explain what detectors
11:52to choose and how to locate them properly thanks for coming out good to see you again must be Tracy
12:00nice to meet you nice to meet you come on after you all right Tracy so I saw that you
12:07wrote in about
12:08installing new smoke detectors can you tell me a little bit about the system you currently have sure
12:11I had a security system for a while and then I went to battery operated okay I don't have too
12:18many
12:18around right now but I really need something that's safer does that sound a little familiar yeah so it
12:23sounds like she had what we call a household fire warning system probably monitored by a central alarm
12:29company that would call you directly the alarm went off at some point in time you decided to go with
12:36battery operated detectors only that did not send the signal anywhere else and now you want to bring
12:42your house up the present-day code with hardwired interconnected smoke and carbon monoxide on yes
12:47and that's the great point is the interconnected portion so right now with the batteries if something
12:51were to happen in the basement it's only going to make noise in the basement if you're on a second
12:54floor or a bedroom further away especially if you have the summertime with an air conditioner or a fan
12:59going you may not hear that detector going off so that's a great point of the interconnect that is
13:03absolutely the best system to have early detection in a fire seconds count to escape from your bedroom
13:10or your basement so that's what we would recommend in all instances that people use interconnected
13:15smoke and carbon monoxide alarms sounds great so when it comes to choosing the detectors we have
13:20two different kinds I'm aware of ionization and photoelectric does that sound right that is correct
13:24so now if you were to build or remodel your house you can only use photoelectric smoke detectors
13:30got it prior to that depending on when your house was built or remodeled you could also use ionization
13:36smoke detectors right but they could not be placed within 20 feet of a kitchen or a bathroom that had
13:42a shower however they go into false alarm frequently so that's why we have the photoelectric requirement
13:48yeah that kind of sounds familiar back in the day when we used to have some of the smoke detectors
13:51a
13:51little too close to a bathroom they were the ionizations we had to change them to the photos so they
13:55weren't always going off because of the steam off the shower so that's good the other thing that we're
13:59going to use are the photoelectric smoke combination with a carbon monoxide that way if you have an
14:04issue with the carbon monoxide it'll tell you throughout the entire house yeah that is correct
14:08so the way we want to do that is we want you to install a combo detector that has a
14:13voice and a tone
14:14right so if the if there is a carbon monoxide event in the basement and it's during the night
14:19that the detector that's required outside your bedroom is going to tell you what it is is it a smoke
14:25event or is it a carbon monoxide event and that is done through a tone and a voice that's great
14:31so
14:31i'll know which one it is it'll say fire carbon monoxide yeah it's perfect tells you either one
14:35so great i think we have a pretty good idea for the system we want to install now it's just
14:38a matter of
14:39locating where they're going to go so let's start down this hallway and take a look at the bedrooms let's
14:43go right down here all right so looks like we have three bedrooms yep so we want one in each
14:49bedroom
14:50that is correct and where we want to put it is just inside the bedroom preferably within three
14:54to five feet of the door we want to keep it away from any ceiling fan because that can certainly
14:58interrupt the detector from activating got it we also have a bathroom with a shower and you have
15:03a kitchen around the corner so ideally i would like to see the detector three to five feet further
15:09down the hallway and meet all the requirements what about the second floor where do we put the
15:13requirement is at the base of all stairs not within the stairwell so we want to place it once you
15:19get off the landing on the ceiling okay we want to protect the means of egress so what if we
15:25had an
15:25attached garage so the minimum requirement is one heat detector located in the center of the garage
15:30on the ceiling so now that we kind of have a good idea of what we're going to do in
15:33the bedrooms we
15:33come out to the hallway and i know we have to have one within 10 feet of the bedroom doors
15:37here we can
15:38see you have the battery one that's right here but the thing i notice is that vent and that's a
15:42fairly
15:42common issue so what's the guideline we're putting in your event like that yeah we want to keep it away
15:46from the vent for two reasons a dust collection on the detector and also from any air movement
15:52delaying the uh action great i think we're in pretty good shape that's great information
15:58chief i can't thank you enough thank you very much and as always thanks for coming out and helping
16:03but it's very important to drive home the fact that if you have questions when you're doing this
16:06please contact your local fire department you guys are very happy to help absolutely always contact your
16:11local fire department for advice here in new report we welcome the phone calls we want to make sure you
16:16purchase the right detectors and put them in the right spots tracy we got some work to do all right
16:21let's do it thanks again all right tracy before we go ahead and install these i just want to go
16:26over
16:26the couple of different detectors we have and kind of show you what you already have and what we're going
16:29to install okay so what you currently have are the battery operated ones which is great if you have
16:33nothing so very simple they just clip up like you saw you have a couple of batteries when they die
16:38they die you replace them right this is what we've been installing lately i actually have these in my own
16:43house this is a hardwired detector battery backup and it does both the smoke and carbon monoxide
16:49fairly simple when we do the hard wire it's going to be color to color for the wires black to
16:53black
16:54white to white red to red and the ground's buried together and then fairly typically we'll
16:58either have a couple of double a's or a nine volt battery that goes here so if you ever heard
17:02that
17:02chirp that single chirp at two in the morning that's the only time it ever happens and it's about
17:06a minute apart and you're trying to chase it down to find it that's what it is it usually means
17:10it's due
17:10for a battery replacement but since we don't want to deal with that anymore either we now have
17:14detectors that have a 10-year sealed battery so the unit is good for its 10-year cycle sealed battery
17:20you don't touch anything so it's hardwired the battery is built in and you're good to go now what
17:25if it doesn't chirp and how am i ever going to know when it's up in 10 years i wouldn't
17:29remember the 10
17:29years are up either so it should chirp and give you an end of life cycle signal of some kind
17:34to tell you
17:34that it's time to be replaced but if it doesn't on the back side of them they all have a
17:38date it tells
17:39you what the manufacture date was so if you have one and you're not sure and you take this down
17:43it's past that 10-year mark it's a good time to replace it okay and finally we're just going to
17:48go around to install these use a hole saw to cut in these round old work boxes run our 14
17:533nm around
17:54go ahead and mount these and we'll be good to go great you ready i'm ready all right let's do
17:58this
17:59thank you so what i've done is i've drilled a hole from down here to up in the attic so
18:05what i want
18:05to try and do now is i'm going to take these fiberglass fish tapes i'm going to try and push
18:09these up it's a straighter shot a little a little easier to kind of push straight through the hole
18:15and i'm just going to try and line it up now i should need two of them the wall is
18:20about
18:20eight feet tall and these are five foot sections and just thread together
18:27so we're going up
18:31ah right there so that is the top plate of the wall so now what i want to do is
18:36try and wiggle this
18:37around a little bit and find that hole and they do line up pretty well so it shouldn't be too
18:42bad
18:42hopefully right there so that is popping up into our attic so what i can do is tie the wire
18:50onto this
18:51now go to the attic and pull this right up we have the wire taped on so i'm going to
18:57go ahead
18:57and start pulling that up
19:07and there's our wire so the first thing i want to do is measure where we want to put the
19:13hole
19:14and i already have an idea of where the trusses are upstairs so i want to be about three feet
19:23over
19:27let's poke this up just to make sure i'm clear which i should be
19:36and next i'll use a little tie wire that i've pre-bent at two inches i'm using a three and
19:42three
19:42quarter holes off of this so at two inches it should be excessive that i can slide up
19:45and spin around to make sure that i clear everything
19:56and i can spin around high and low and i know there are no obstructions for that junction box
20:04now that we have that
20:08i have my three and three quarter inch hole saw and my dust collection bowl i'll set up to collect
20:12everything
20:20and just like that
20:23we have our opening all right so i've got this hole cut out and we have two ways we can
20:29do this we can
20:29either fish the wires around to the location pull them down and then make up push them up or in
20:34this case
20:35where i have nice attic access i'm going to go ahead and cut all the holes and install the boxes
20:39ahead
20:39of time and then go upstairs and i can staple right to them and stuff the wires through
20:44that's a nice snug fit and now we'll just spin the ears
20:47all right so i'll repeat this process for the other two bedrooms and then i can go upstairs and
21:02pull the wires over and push them through and then we can make them up
21:12all right now since this is an interconnected system i want everything to talk to each other
21:16this box happens to have two wires so at the start i'll have a single wire just one of these
21:21then i
21:21jump from room to room to room to hall or basement or wherever else it is so single on the
21:26first one
21:26then as i come to the next box i come back out that's why i have two this goes to
21:30the next room
21:31so it lets me provide the power with the black and white on both
21:34and the red is my interconnect so this red is continuous between the entire loop
21:39so if something happens they all talk to each other
21:56all right tracy so all the hard work's done all the detectors are up everything's powered it's
22:00ready to give them a test you ready i'm ready all right you're hearing protection it's going to get
22:03loud yep all right i'm ready and test testing oh yeah that'll wake you up huh that's definitely
22:13going to wake me up and then i'll run through a couple of cycles and you can hear you kind
22:16of hear
22:17it's telling you that it's either smoke or it's carbon monoxide so it definitely lets you know what's
22:21going on it's a long cycle yes that that will make me there we go good we take those out
22:28now
22:29well i think you're all set great thank you so much i feel so much safer this is great that
22:34was a
22:34great project happy to help thank you heat next time on ask this old house maro helps a homeowner
22:45design and paint an accent wall i love it it looks amazing then do plants clean the air can they
22:53repel
22:53mosquitoes jen discusses some of these common plant myths and when homeowners ask for an affordable
23:00patio option mark suggests installing a peastone patio all that on ask this old house
23:16so
23:26so
23:27so
23:27so
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