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Ask This Old House - Season 24 - Episode 09
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00:04On Ask This Old House, our experts travel across the country to answer questions about your house.
00:17Today, looking for ways to organize your garage? Nathan helps a homeowner install overhead storage.
00:27Then, Heath shows how to install a three-way smart switch.
00:32And, Richard gives a lesson on water heater maintenance by replacing an anorod.
00:37You could make the water heater last 20 years versus 10.
00:41All that on Ask This Old House.
00:50Thanks so much for coming, Nathan. I really appreciate it.
00:53Yeah, so we've been in this house now for a couple years, and we're expecting our first child.
00:58Congratulations.
00:59And, well, we thought now would be kind of the perfect time to really start working on the organization in
01:05here,
01:05because I've heard kids come with a lot of stuff.
01:07They really do. I've got three of my own, and there's plenty of strollers and toys, and they just never
01:11stop.
01:12Great.
01:13I see you already have some organization going on here. Show me what you've got.
01:17Yeah, so we have the overhead rack with probably an excessive number of brackets up there.
01:22Brackets up there. Thank you.
01:23I like it.
01:23We have this dresser that we picked up off the street. Certainly not ideal, but, you know, it works.
01:28Kind of like a makeshift toolbox.
01:29Yeah, and then these plastic racks that are probably just as old as I am from my dad, but not
01:35as sturdy as they probably should be for a kid.
01:37All right. Well, I'm getting some ideas, and we know organization's key with kids.
01:41So I see maybe a heavy-duty rack here with some adjustable shelving because the strollers, the toys, I mean,
01:47they keep coming.
01:48Maybe a toolbox to swap that out, and then see kind of a blank slate above my head.
01:53We could probably do a rack up there.
01:54That'd be awesome.
01:56So I think a good place to get started is by emptying off those racks, and an extra set of
02:00hands is going to be pretty helpful.
02:01So this is my dad, Bill.
02:02Hi. Great to meet you both.
02:03Nice to meet you.
02:20So here is your new adjustable ceiling storage rack, rated up to 600 pounds.
02:25Okay.
02:25But we definitely want to kind of keep it on the lighter side.
02:27Totes and bins, things that you only want to grab once, twice a year.
02:31That'd be perfect.
02:31So we're actually going to build it up in the air.
02:34We're going to find our ceiling joists and get into some good structure.
02:37I think right about here above us would be nice.
02:40Give ourselves about three or four feet to get a ladder down here.
02:43So when you're up in the ladder, you could access both sides.
02:45Yes, absolutely.
02:46Yeah.
02:46So I see you have a little panel there.
02:48I'm definitely going to open that up and see what we're working with.
02:55All right.
02:56So we got our strapping.
02:58We have our ceiling joists.
03:01And it looks like it's framed 16 on center, which is good.
03:07We'll do our layout.
03:08Ensure that we're getting into joists.
03:10Then we'll fasten those brackets on.
03:31I'm going to pre-drill and then I'll secure the bracket with a lag bolt.
03:51All right.
03:51How's that look?
03:52Good.
03:58Any adjustment?
04:00Good.
04:26Good.
04:27Good.
04:27Good.
04:27Good.
04:47wow all right here it is your toolbox replacement nice heavy duty unit big big draw at the top here
04:55little ones on the side soft close options on wheels easy to roll around i know that that's
05:01going to be very heavy so i think that we should probably transfer those tools into here yeah and
05:05we'll roll this into place absolutely while you work on transferring those tools me and my dad
05:09will put this heavy duty shelving unit together all metal even the racks are metal so really good
05:15for an unconditioned space even better it's adjustable you can change the height of the
05:19shelves if you have something bulky you can spread them apart sounds great
05:51all right veronica what do you think this looks amazing
05:54i mean all the organization all the storage for all the baby gear that i'm sure that's gonna roll
05:59in over time keep coming and coming i want to show you one thing so right here we put your
06:03stroller
06:03and i did this in my house i have the three girls and they have a lot of stuff so
06:07i make sure when my
06:08wife backs in easy in and out for strollers kids toys beach stuff right onto the shelf out of the
06:13back of the car but as always you're going to adapt over time change your layout yeah it was best
06:18for
06:18you painting quite a picture and i'm sure yeah as you said things are going to change over time but
06:22this is amazing and i just can't thank you guys enough this is gorgeous you're welcome enjoy it
06:27you're welcome take care thank you
06:42with the switch to smart switches i've been getting a lot of phone calls from homeowners who are finding
06:47certain configurations a little bit confusing now we have two basic types you're going to find in
06:51your home the first one's going to be a single pole switch now this refers to a switch in one
06:56location
06:56that can control a light or multiple lights very simple has two screws on the side and the ground
07:03pretty easy to replace and you can see the homeowner replaced two single poles here
07:07where we're having some confusion is when it comes to the three-way switch
07:11and this refers to when we have at least two switches two different locations controlling a
07:15light or multiple lights here we have a three-way switch at the top of the stairs controlling the
07:19light over the staircase and one at the bottom of the stairs so you can turn them on or off
07:23from both
07:24locations now instead of just having the two screws we have the two brass screws and an identified
07:29screw and that can throw you off a little bit when you have different wiring configurations
07:33so what i want to do today is show you how to replace the traditional three-way switch
07:37with a smart three-way switch and how to control it from both locations so the first thing i want
07:42to do before i get started is turn off the breaker all right now that the power's off i'm going
07:47to go
07:48ahead and remove the wall plate then i'll take the switch out
08:07all right so you can see this switch has the three wires on it and we have two brass screws
08:13and this black screw the black screw is the common we want to pay attention to what wire is connected
08:17to this screw so i'm going to take that one off first and set it aside
08:25now these two i can see go on the three wire together those are my travelers and i'll put these
08:31over here together so i know that was my common those are my travelers so with this box i'm going
08:37to take this apart and i should be able to see
08:45if i have multiple feed wires coming out of here going to each of these switches since they're single
08:51poles
08:53all right so we can see that wire nut we can see this wire coming off that was our common
08:58it also comes off and goes to the black wire the feed in on this switch and has another pigtail
09:05that
09:05comes off and goes to this switch so that is our feed wire so we know that that common is
09:11our feed
09:11the switch at the bottom of the stairs will be the light
09:16and now we can install the new smart switch so first i'm going to start with the ground wire this
09:22will either be a green conductor or a bare copper wire next i'm going to do the two travelers
09:32now for this you want to pay attention to which color wire you put where i'll do the
09:36red to the red traveler the black to the blue and finally black wire is going to connect to our
09:49common
09:50which is our feed make sure everything's secure and then try and fold everything neatly into the junction
09:55box what you don't want to do is stuff the wires in too tightly or risk anything coming loose or
10:00getting
10:00pinched so make sure everything has plenty of room to move
10:24all right so now it's time to address the second three-way switch at the bottom of the stairs
10:30here now while there are a variety of ways to configure this switch that we have upstairs
10:34i'm going to show you two different options the first one is going to be installing this and this
10:39is essentially a remote control what's going to happen is you have this switch in place with the
10:45three wires and the three screws you're going to take all three off and put them together under one
10:50wire nut push it in the back of the box and then you're going to take this remote and screw
10:55it
10:55into the switch box and it actually comes with a bracket here to do just that so you'll screw
11:00this in apply the plate and be ready to turn power on upstairs now what happens is this is now
11:06simply
11:06a remote control that talks to that switch so in order to link them you press and hold a button
11:11for
11:11six seconds here you do the same thing on the switch upstairs the two are linked and now you can
11:16actually dim it and control everything from both locations in this situation though we want to keep
11:22the mechanical switch like we have it's just simpler to use when guests come in and out
11:26so what's going to happen again is we have the common and the two travelers but remember we paid
11:32attention to what traveler we tied to what color upstairs we took the red wire on the switch and
11:37put it to the red traveler wire keep that in mind because we're now going to take that red wire
11:41and
11:41combine it with the common wire so the red traveler and the black wire on the common are going to
11:47go
11:47together under the common screw the other traveler wire in this case the other black wire is going to go
11:52to
11:53either one of the brass screws doesn't matter which one and then finally one brass screw simply won't
11:58have a wire on it all right first thing to do again is take the switch plate off now i'll
12:05just
12:05double check that the power is off it should be off because we turn that breaker off the control the
12:11three-way switches but you never know if something else is on a different circuit so it looks like
12:15everything is off next i'll take the three-way switch out okay so you can see we have a black
12:25wire on the common in this case we know that's our light fixture and then we have a black
12:31and the red on the travelers now take the jumper that comes with the smart switch
12:36tied together with the other two wires and go ahead and put that on the common screw
12:42and then go ahead and twist the wire nut on clockwise as well so now i will take that little
12:48jumper and i will put that on the common
12:54so there you can see we took the wire that was on the common and the red traveler that goes
13:00to the
13:00red wire on the smart switch put them together with a pigtail put them on the common and left the
13:06other traveler the black wire in this case alone now we're ready to install the switch
13:15all right now the power's back on let's go ahead and test it
13:19so it turns on here all right so the light works from the bottom let's go ahead and try to
13:24turn it
13:24off from up here and there we go it works from both sides great systems up and running so now
13:30we
13:30have our smart switch installed and it's ready to tie to your home lighting system
13:40hey richard thanks for coming by this is quite the old gem yeah kind of a diamond in the rough
13:45how old the house is it over 250 years old they didn't have a automatic water heater back then
13:51i'm sure they didn't so here's my somewhat neglected water heater what do you mean neglected water heater
13:57what do you got it's uh what is it eight eight years old so right what haven't you done well
14:03there's a note here from the prior owner telling me i should have changed an anode rod a couple years
14:07back and did you know that you had an anode rod don't know what it is how to change what
14:12it does
14:12don't know how to change it well it's something that should be changed regularly it looks like we may
14:17be too late you can see there's all sorts of corrosion here and you're an eight year old water heater
14:21what i'm going to do is run to the truck and come back and we're going to teach you how
14:24to change your
14:25anode all right sounds good all right so in every single water heater there is a rod like that
14:35that's an anode rod it's made out of aluminum it's made out of magnesium or sometimes zinc
14:40what it does is it sits down inside the tank so just imagine it sits in right there and it
14:46is this
14:46sacrificial rod it's actually designed to have any corrosion electrolysis that happens naturally in water
14:54from attacking the tank because the tank itself is glass-lined steel okay so now if that glass
15:02lining was to have any imperfections that electrolysis would want to eat this but it would
15:07eat this first if it's operation because it's a sacrificial anode okay that's what it looks like
15:12brand new this is one that just came just came out of a water heater that is about this age
15:18it's about
15:1910 years old that's crazy and that's all that was left once that sacrificial anode was gone
15:23we actually saw on that water heater very similar condition here where it started to show rust here
15:28and then ultimately it leaked okay okay and if you change the anode and you did it every two to
15:34five
15:34years you could make the water heater last almost indefinitely it could be 20 20 years versus 10.
15:39okay okay so this is a 40 part okay the problem is often is how to get it into it
15:46okay all right
15:47well they made this just for you brennan look this is a replacement anode do you see how it can
15:51bend
15:52so now there's a tapping right here and you could bend that and get it down into it okay
15:57so to get that anode out we got to drain the water down but not all of it so i'm
16:01going to turn the water
16:02off right here and we want to just drain it down to about here so that we have the weight
16:07of the
16:07water in the tank holding back when we try to back the anode out okay put that hose on there
16:13if you
16:13would for me okay and then when you get that on just open up the drain valve i'm going to
16:18go open
16:18the hot water faucets upstairs just to vent it back to you sounds good
16:26all right by letting that hot water faucet open we will let the air come down and
16:31drain out all the water in the piping let me know when you got half a bucket or so
16:39so what that water look like coming into the bucket real funky at first see people don't
16:43realize that the bottom of that tank is a natural place to collect sediment so one good tip is to
16:48actually take a little bit of water out every six months because any sediment that's down there's going
16:52to affect the fire to water transfer so you can send the life just by doing that okay okay so
16:57that's on
16:57your list right yep okay so now i also want to turn off the gas or electricity depending
17:01on the type of water heater all right so welcome to anode replacement 101 can't wait okay anodes
17:09have a standard size head and it's one and one sixteenths okay so you can get a socket that can
17:15fit the standard is always a 12 point socket and that goes on top of it and the simplest approach
17:20is just to get a breaker bar with a ratchet and get on top of it and back it out
17:25and if it's been in
17:26only for a little bit of time it should back out readily okay now most people ignore it for what
17:32five years you eight years whatever how many years yeah so what happens is it wants to fuse in and
17:37now
17:37you have to step up your leverage so now you'd go to a heavy gauge ratchet again with the one
17:43sixteenths
17:45and a pipe or an extender now you're going to extend your leverage against that nut but the more
17:52more force we put on it the more we got to worry about the whole water heater dancing so one
17:57little
17:58tip is to use a strap that lets a second person hold back against it okay because if you don't
18:04these pipes could bend the gas connection in even the vent don't want that okay and the water in the
18:10tank is our our friend here to hold this tank in place and if that doesn't work the last line
18:17of
18:17defense is actually an impact gun like this you also want to search out a six point socket the
18:23standard universal socket has 12 points and that could actually round over the nut so you can see
18:31that the nut itself it's got six sides and this will match it perfectly for the most amount of grip
18:37the impact gun is the perfect tool for this because it gets high high torque with low low speed and
18:43it's
18:43much like a the air gun that takes the lugs off in an auto body shot okay so you ready
18:47because you're
18:48doing this oh it is oh so you're feeling lucky not particularly we'll give it a go all right so
18:53peel
18:53that piece out right there expose the head of the anode perfect
19:00i'll hold back a little bit you down on it yep okay
19:09nope nope okay nope all right so now that's pretty well in there so now i could let's pull that
19:19off
19:19i could hand you these two okay time is money let's try let's try this all right
19:33and get that six point right down on top of it it's going the right way right yep make it
19:38go down
19:38is it down all the way yeah it's got a little torque so just hope give it a little little
19:43pop
19:46go go go go did it come yep keep keep going you keep you might be on loose go yeah
19:55it's it's i think
19:56it's finger oh no oh my goodness there's no anode rod left this awful one's even better than this one
20:07all right so here's our new anode rod i want to apply a little teflon tape to the threads
20:13all right so now we're going to bend this first one so we can get it down in
20:19yeah okay now just we want to bend that straight now put it put it back to more straight so
20:26it goes
20:26it'll hang straight down yeah that's better there we go there we go all right good all right okay
20:33catch that thread without crossing it please
20:38let me try it
20:51okay so now we've got a brand new anode in there i see all this corrosion there's a really good
20:58chance
20:58that this water heater would then leak what two weeks later yeah you'll be talking on the whole
21:02neighborhood about me of course okay so i think what we should do is i'm going to get you a
21:07new
21:07water heater install it only if you promise that you will change that anode every two to three years
21:13okay i promise okay i don't believe you okay i'll be right back
21:19so
21:31so
21:54there are so many things in this life we know we should do you know rotate your tires and clean
21:57the
21:58dryer vent and changing the anode rod is just one more of them that nobody does but you're gonna right
22:03absolutely all right now there is a story this replacement anode rod is 40 bucks that new water
22:10heater is about a thousand if this little rod can make that water heater last twice as long 20 to
22:1625
22:17years i hope you do it absolutely there's even instructions i went to do this and i'm going to
22:22actually call you too yeah hold me to it okay what you're not going to get though because i know
22:27you're
22:27going to do it is this fair enough okay all right thank you so much for the knowledge and the
22:33labor
22:33and the experience you were great great help all right have a good one i'm going to call you
22:42next time on ask this old house jen travels to idaho to meet a homeowner whose backyard has become a
22:49community gathering spot and is in need of some tlc you're ready to shovel with us yeah keep it moving
22:55i love it you like the rough side out on these boards i like the texture too and are your
23:01window
23:02wells in rough shape mark will show you how to replace them it's not as easy as it looks all
23:08that on
23:09ask this old house
23:39you
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