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00:01Hi, I'm Kevin O'Connor, and welcome back to a brand new season of Ask This Old House.
00:06We're going to travel all over to tackle your home improvement problems.
00:10Today, these trees might be green, but they're not healthy.
00:13We'll show you how to save them.
00:15I'm heading to Canada to help a homeowner hook up the plumbing to his kitchen island.
00:19And I'll show you some features to look for in a workbench.
00:23There's a lot coming up today, so stick around.
00:32Get out your passport. Today we're taking a trip to Toronto.
00:36Take a ride on the city's iconic red streetcar, and you will feel transported to New York City's Times Square,
00:42the bustling streets of Beijing, or the roadside food stalls of Mumbai.
00:46Our homeowner, David, is a hands-on guy who isn't afraid to tackle a big project.
00:50I started to renovate my kitchen in the fall.
00:53I spent a lot of time designing and building the island here,
00:56and I wouldn't want it ruined by an improper plumbing hookup.
01:01I'll show David how to make simple watertight connections,
01:04and an easy solution for his drain that'll save him time and money.
01:08Alright, so the island has had a lot of hard work done already.
01:11You've got your countertop already installed, the sink, the holes for the faucet have been drilled.
01:17And down here is where our work's going to begin.
01:19Now we've got to connect the water to the faucets.
01:21So you've got a hot and a cold right here.
01:23That's going to come up to the faucets, but also to the ice maker over at the refrigerator,
01:29and the supply to the dishwasher right here with hot water.
01:32Now once we get that connected, we also have to do some drain work.
01:35So we're going to drain right here, we have to vent it.
01:38It's going to come over and take the drains from the sinks.
01:41We also have the dishwasher connection to make right here.
01:44And why don't we start by turning off the water so we can put some shut-off valves right here.
01:48Why don't you go downstairs and turn the water off?
01:49Okay. I shut off the main water and I opened up the hot and cold tap in the basement.
01:54Alright, well good. Opening the taps is really important.
01:56You want to get the water out of those pipes so it doesn't come out of the pipes down here
02:00when we cut those supply lines.
02:02Alright, speaking of supply lines, we're going to run hot and cold right here to these fittings.
02:06Pretty interesting fitting. It's a tea fitting, but it also has a shut-off valve right here.
02:10You see, this is big enough for the dishwasher supply from the hot side.
02:14And on this side, it's a little smaller, quarter-inch, and that goes to the ice maker.
02:18We're going to cut short pieces of copper right here, and here's our hot and cold shut-off for our
02:22faucet.
02:23But you'll note that we're not using a torch. These are solderless connections.
02:26No torch. No torch.
02:27That's good.
02:27But we do have to cut a pipe, so this is our imp cutter.
02:30It's made to get into tight places, and that's for you, and our work begins.
02:33Okay, let's get going.
02:35Alright, I'd like you to cut the left-hand pipe, the hot, just below that cap.
02:39Alright, as high as you can get it.
02:40Okay.
02:40And the right-hand one, about two inches down.
02:43Okay.
02:56Alright, what do you got there? Four on the left, so two on the right-hand one. Perfect.
03:05Alright, and can you just clean the end of those pipes for me?
03:08But you said we weren't soldering.
03:09Right, but I still like to know that I have a clean connection for these compression fittings.
03:18Alright, now the essence of a compression connection is to use the nut and the ferrule.
03:24Now, the nut is right here, and the brass ring is called a ferrule.
03:27The way this connection works is that the nut goes down over the pipe, the ferrule goes next,
03:33and then we have to be sure to put the pipe all the way into the fitting.
03:37Now, once that's in and we tighten up this nut, it's going to deform that ferrule so tight against the
03:41copper pipe that it's a watertight seal.
03:43And one thing I always like to do is just a little touch of pipe dope on that ferrule, and
03:50then we tighten up with two wrenches.
03:52Now, I can make all these connections up here except for the final two right here.
03:56It's a lot easier above that sink.
04:10I'm using two adjustable open-end wrenches, and there are no teeth on it.
04:14That means there'll be no marks, and I can hold back against the fitting.
04:18You just hold it.
04:34All right, so those are all made.
04:36Now, with the shutoffs in place, why don't you run down and put the water back onto the house?
04:39I'm on it.
04:39All right.
04:42The water's back on.
04:44Now what?
04:44Well, time to install the faucet, and it is really quite the faucet you've selected.
04:48It has a spout like any kitchen faucet does, has a control unit here to select hot or cold,
04:54but this one actually has a solenoid as well, connected to a battery.
04:58And that means when you touch the spout, it goes on, you touch it again, it goes off.
05:02But it still starts with the same basic connection, that is installing the spout.
05:14All right, the spout swivel okay?
05:16Yeah, it works great.
05:18All right.
05:18Can you pass me now the control unit down through the right-hand hole with all those tubes?
05:23Yep.
05:25Super.
05:30All right, just hold it in place while I tighten it up, please.
05:39All right, and this is also called a compression connection.
05:42We just tighten up that nut, again with an adjustable open end.
05:49But no pipe dope on a plastic connection.
05:57And now the cold.
06:02All right, it's time to start our drain work, and that's pretty straightforward.
06:05But at an island, venting is the real challenge.
06:07What do you mean by that?
06:09Well, typically, a kitchen sink would be mounted in a countertop like this, and that's up against a wall.
06:13And so that allows us to do traditional piping.
06:16What I mean by that is there's a trap underneath a kitchen sink, and that runs into the wall,
06:22and the water goes down through the drain here.
06:24But this pipe right here is a vent, and that continues inside the wall and connects with all the other
06:28vents in the building and exits through the roof.
06:30And it's really important to make it drain, drain properly.
06:33It won't gurgle.
06:34So what am I going to do, David?
06:36Am I going to put this right here and run a pipe up through your countertop?
06:38I hope not.
06:39Well, in my world, the code requires that I do something like this.
06:44This is called a bow vent.
06:46This piping arrangement would fit underneath the island.
06:49Here's your trap.
06:50The water comes down from the sink.
06:52It goes down here and goes right outside the building, right?
06:55But at this point and above, it's now a vent.
06:58And here's the vent pipe coming up as high as it can under the island.
07:02It comes down here.
07:03Now it has to go to a point below the floor level right here.
07:06And this pipe is still a vent, continues under the floor, into the wall, and reconnect with the vent system
07:12out through the roof.
07:12And that is a lot of work.
07:14But in many states and here in Canada, I can do something different.
07:17I can introduce something like this.
07:19It's an air admittance valve.
07:21So here's our drain right here.
07:23Here's our vent.
07:24But at this point, right underneath the kitchen cabinet, I can install it.
07:28And it will allow air in to break the vacuum, but it won't allow sewer gas to come out.
07:33Let me show you.
07:33This is a clear mock-up.
07:35So now you've got a sink filled with water and you let it go.
07:37It's going to try to pull the air in.
07:40When it's done, if methane gas was pushing out of the way, it would seal it off.
07:45So what you're saying is this one little vent here, underneath my sink, will replace all of this?
07:50Absolutely.
07:50And it will fit right underneath the cabinet.
07:52Let's get started.
07:53So here's the anatomy of our drainage for this island sink.
07:56We have two bowls.
07:57So there are two basket strainers.
07:59The water is going to come down through this tailpiece on this side,
08:01with a branch to connect to the dishwasher.
08:04On this side, the water comes down to this T, into a trap, into our drain, and we'll have the
08:10vent right here.
08:11But it starts by putting a little bit of putty on these basket strainers.
08:14So why don't you open up right there?
08:15All right.
08:15So take a little bit and just warm it up in your hands, make it into a long snake.
08:22And just wrap it right around there when you get it long enough.
08:25Good.
08:27You snake charmer, you.
08:29How's that?
08:29Perfect.
08:30That's one.
08:33Why don't you go underneath?
08:34I'll push these down.
08:35You're going to take this assembly with you.
08:37We'll do one at a time.
08:40All right.
08:41Right hand bowl coming down.
08:49Snug it up and I'm going to pass you these pliers big enough to snug it up.
08:56Don't over tighten it.
08:57Just give it a good snug, please.
08:59All right.
08:59Putty squeezing out.
09:01I think that's tight enough.
09:06Good.
09:07Let's do the other side.
09:09All right.
09:10To make our final drain connections, it starts by installing this tail piece up against the
09:14bottom of the basket strainer.
09:16That helps to establish where our trap's going to reside.
09:19So it sits right here.
09:21And now I need to make sure that this pipe is at the right height to go to the trap.
09:24And I've already cut that.
09:26And when I glue it, I have to be sure I get this at the right angle.
09:29I only have one shot at it.
09:31So I'm going to measure one more piece right here and we can glue it all together.
09:35All right, David.
09:36There's your mark.
09:37One and three quarters inches.
09:38Okay.
09:39Let's give that a cut, please.
09:44Try to make it as square as you can get it.
09:51Good.
09:54I think we're done.
09:55One more time.
09:56Yep.
09:57There we go.
09:58Super.
10:00All right.
10:01So now we can glue it.
10:02We're using ABS, this black plastic.
10:05It's a little different for me.
10:06We normally use PVC.
10:08One thing about it is it doesn't have a separate cleaner.
10:10It only has the glue.
10:12So now I'm going to just push that together and hold it.
10:18All right.
10:19So now I'm going to glue up the TY and the starter piece.
10:23Here we go.
10:42Good.
10:48All right.
10:49Let's thread our valve in.
10:53I like to get them up as high as I can in the cabinet.
10:58Okay.
10:59Good.
11:00All right, David.
11:00I just need to measure this last horizontal piece, this branch elbow.
11:05Now I notice no disposer.
11:08Not very many people up here use disposers.
11:10The municipality encourages us to compost.
11:13That's cool.
11:14That would put me out of business, wouldn't it?
11:17Never.
11:18All right.
11:19Well, I'm cutting this brass piece with a cutter.
11:23Slightly larger than my normal one.
11:24Makes a beautiful cut.
11:27There we go.
11:34I got lucky.
11:37Okay.
11:38Good.
11:38Now our very last connection is this.
11:41And that's the connection for the dishwasher.
11:43That sticks right onto this branch.
11:48And once it's on, we'll snug it up with this stainless steel clamp.
11:54And we are good to go.
12:02Okay.
12:03We have made all of our connections.
12:05New shutoff going to our dishwasher.
12:07Hot faucet.
12:08Cold faucet.
12:10Cold to ice maker.
12:11Here's our discharge from our dishwasher.
12:14All new drain system here with a trap and a proper vent.
12:17Time to turn the water back on.
12:19Looks great, Richard.
12:20Here we go.
12:22It's hot.
12:25Cold.
12:25All right, David.
12:26Why don't you do the honors?
12:27Here goes.
12:29Good.
12:29Honors on.
12:30I want to try that touch feature.
12:31Isn't that cool?
12:32Fantastic.
12:33Thanks, Richard, for coming to the Toronto area to help me with my plumbing.
12:37It's my pleasure.
12:38Look at this.
12:45Tommy, you have been busy in the off season.
12:47Did you go shopping?
12:48I did go shopping, but it's not hard work when I'm shopping for tools.
12:52It is not.
12:53I got a new table for a miter saw, a bandsaw, a table saw, pulled out the old drill press.
13:00Over here, we've got a router table and a big vacuum to collect all this dust.
13:05You've got a lot of stuff, and what most people don't know is we've actually got a small workshop
13:08here.
13:09It's no bigger than a one-car garage, but everything fits.
13:12Right, and a lot of people have their home workshops in their garage, and they want to
13:16be able to pull the car in at night, so they have to manhandle those tools out of the
13:20way, but we've got wheels on the bottom of all of our tools so we can push them out
13:24of the way.
13:24And then, when we start working, we can pull out the piece we need, and one piece you
13:28need a lot is a good workbench.
13:29Good workbench.
13:30Now, right here, we have a vise on this side, but down here, we have another vise on the
13:35end.
13:35Now, look at this vise.
13:37It opens right up.
13:38There's actually wood on the inside, and they're magnetic, and that wood is there to
13:43protect our piece of wood that we want to work on so we don't damage it.
13:47Wood on wood is a lot better than metal on wood.
13:49Exactly.
13:50Now, right here, this is a bench dog.
13:52Bench dog fits in those holes right here on the side of the table.
13:56The vise has a bench dog on it also.
13:59Pull that up.
14:00Push this down.
14:01I adjust the height so it's not higher than my wood, so I won't damage it with my tool.
14:06Put the wood in there.
14:07Push the vise.
14:08Clamp it down.
14:10And now I can work on that piece, and I don't have to worry about it moving around.
14:13Now, a quick, simple way to clamp that down, and because we've got these holes all in
14:19align with the vise, you can actually take one of the bench dogs, put it down here, and
14:24now you can work on a longer piece of wood.
14:27Exactly.
14:28Now, let's say I wanted to work on a piece of wood, and I wanted to do some carving, or
14:31I wanted to route an edge, or something that was simple and quick.
14:35This is a hole fast.
14:36It actually goes in the hole, put it down, I tap it with my hammer, and that piece of
14:42wood is not going to go anywhere.
14:43And this is really simple, just working on friction.
14:45This is a narrower shaft in a wider hole, and when you put it in there, it kind of torques,
14:50you knock it in, not going anywhere.
14:52To break it free, hit it with a hammer, and I'm out.
14:55Very nice.
14:55All right.
14:56So, can I interest you in a cookie?
14:58A cookie.
14:59Now you laugh, but these things are pretty cool.
15:01It's just a little puck, and it's got a rubber pad on both sides, and that rubber does a
15:06pretty good job of actually grabbing the wood.
15:09Right.
15:09And this maple is slippery, so if I wanted to work on this piece of wood, and let's say
15:13I wanted to sand it, I'd have to hold it down like this and put a clamp in it to
15:16keep
15:16it from moving around.
15:18Or, one cookie, two cookie, three cookie, four.
15:21That's right.
15:21Drop it on there, put my piece of wood on top, and lookit, that's not going to go anywhere.
15:25And it's amazing how many times something like that is all you need to hold a piece of
15:30wood.
15:30Right.
15:30But what a great feature about this top is I haven't told you that.
15:34On the right-hand side over there, there's a foot pedal.
15:36Push down on it, hold onto the top, it'll drop right down.
15:42So, adjustable.
15:43It's adjustable.
15:44So, now if I wanted to work on a cabinet, up high here, I've got a workbench at the
15:48right height.
15:48And because it's adjustable, you can pull it up to just the right height, wheel it in
15:53place, and now you've got an outfeed table for your table saw.
15:57Bring it up a little higher, and it's an outfeed for your bandsaw.
15:59That's right.
16:00So, if you've got a long piece of wood and you're trying to push it through, you don't
16:02need anybody on the other side to hold it.
16:04So, a lot of uses out of just one piece right here.
16:07All right.
16:08Well, we'll be talking about all the pieces throughout the course of the season while we
16:10make some projects.
16:11And so far as I'm concerned, it's shaping up to be a great season.
16:14I'm ready to get started.
16:15Are you?
16:15Now, how come I didn't get to go shopping with you?
16:17No way.
16:19In nature, a seed falls from a tree, it lands on the forest floor, and if it's lucky enough,
16:25it germinates.
16:26It becomes a seedling.
16:28Then it progresses on to a sapling.
16:31Then it turns into a mature tree like this white pine.
16:34But what I wanted to show you today is at the base of this white pine.
16:38You see where the tree comes down and then flares out?
16:41That's called a root flare.
16:42You can see the individual roots growing out right on the surface.
16:46That's how a tree grows in nature.
16:49That's nature, Roger.
16:50That's not what we have here in this lawn area.
16:52Pretty much every tree on this property has been planted incorrectly.
16:56Every tree?
16:57Very often people don't simulate what they see in nature when they plant a tree.
17:02Well, it's not that hard to do.
17:04Let me show you this right here.
17:05Show me the root flare on this tree right here.
17:07I don't see a root flare, Matt.
17:09It looks like a telephone pole going in the ground.
17:11This is the classic mulch volcano.
17:13What the landscapers do is keep on piling mulch year after year after year, causing this mulch volcano.
17:19But it's just mulch.
17:20How can it hurt the tree?
17:21It's suffocating the root mass.
17:23The roots actually breathe.
17:24By putting all this mulch on top of it, it suffocates it, causing the bark to fall off.
17:29This tree's a goner.
17:30It's going to have to be removed.
17:31You're kidding me.
17:32I'm going to excavate this and show you what the problem is.
17:35Great.
17:37I'm just going to use this cultivator and do some excavation here.
17:42See what's going on.
17:43Oh, I see drip irrigation on top of the root ball.
17:46I never like to see it on top of the root ball.
17:48I'd rather see it out over here to get the fibrous root mass breaking out in the direction that we
17:53want it.
17:53Right.
17:53We want those roots growing out, not up into the ball.
17:56Correct.
18:02Matt, can we get this drip line out of here?
18:04Yeah, let's cut it right out of there and make it easy to dig in here.
18:07Sure will.
18:15That's much better.
18:20Matt, look at all these secondary root systems.
18:23That's really something, isn't it, Roger?
18:25Yeah, and that secondary root system isn't good.
18:27It indicates that the primary root system is suffocated down below, and these roots have come up and grown into
18:32the mulch looking for oxygen.
18:34That's right, Roger.
18:35This secondary root system, when it comes up into the mulch volcano, it's the first to get cooked by the
18:41sun in the summertime, and it's also the first to get burnt by the frost in the wintertime.
18:46Additionally, these roots will circle around the main stem, compacting this area, further girdling the tree in the future.
18:53A girdling root will actually dig into the tree and can cause it to die over time.
18:57It's a slow death.
19:00Look at all these trees in this lawn area.
19:03They are all perched in a mulch volcano.
19:05Oh, it's just horrible.
19:06I see it all the time.
19:09This is a perfect example of a tree that cannot be saved as a result of this mulch volcano.
19:14All this mulch suffocates the root system.
19:17When the roots can't draw moisture up, the bark falls off and the tree dies.
19:22So the bark dies exposing all the wood underneath.
19:24Right.
19:25Are there any here we can save?
19:26I'll show you.
19:27This one over here looks pretty good.
19:29A little cherry.
19:30It's got a nice full-form crown on it.
19:32I don't see any of the bark falling off.
19:34I'd start out by removing all this mulch.
19:36Let's get to it.
19:39There's lots of secondary roots here.
19:42Yeah, see this big one here is going right against the trunk of the tree, so that'll end up being
19:45a girdler.
19:46Yep, that'll be a culprit, won't it?
19:52Well, that's about all we'll do with the hand tools, Roger.
19:54The rest of it we'll take out with a power tool.
19:58I have a compressor here that I'm going to fire up.
20:05Then compress the air down this line to the tool, which we're going to use to black mulch and soil
20:11off the tree base.
20:15The air wand removes all the soil, but it doesn't damage the roots or the tree.
20:21You can actually see the wire baskets, the remnants of it left there from the original planting.
20:29Well, Matt, now we can really see that root flare right there.
20:33Yep, and all these secondary roots that are coming up right here.
20:35This one's crossing right over the flare.
20:37That would be a problem in the future, wouldn't it?
20:39We're going to cut all these roots off that are going up.
20:41So anything coming up gets cut.
20:43Right.
20:44Okay.
20:46Okay, we're pretty good on this side.
20:49One more.
20:50Yep.
20:51Let's get the other side.
20:54Wow, Roger, look at this one.
20:55Not only does it come up, but it goes in towards the stem of the tree.
20:59Yep.
20:59That's not good.
21:00This one's almost as bad.
21:01It even wraps around the tree, so I'm going to get rid of that.
21:04We've got just a few more to go.
21:06Yeah, it's looking good now.
21:07How about this one?
21:09That's gone.
21:10Now, with the secondary root system gone, you can really see that primary flare and how
21:15it sits right at ground level.
21:18All right, we just want to add a little bit of topsoil to fill in some of the voids around
21:23the tree.
21:24Remember, we do not want to cover the primary root flare.
21:29Now we're ready for mulch, but no more volcanoes.
21:32Take a look here.
21:33There has to be at least 10 or 12 inches of mulch on top of this root bar.
21:37What we're going to do is apply a little bit at a time and end up with a layer that's
21:42about
21:42two inches deep.
21:46I don't like to just dump the whole wheel barrel on there.
21:48I like to put it on by hand so we can gauge the depth and make sure we don't have
21:52much
21:52more than two inches.
21:59Now, the mulch is important for a couple of reasons.
22:02It keeps the grass from growing up next to the tree.
22:05It holds moisture in the soil, and it also keeps weeds from popping up.
22:09And most importantly, we're not covering up the root flare the way that nature intended
22:14it to be.
22:15Roger, I can't tell you how many times I've seen these trees with that big mound of mulch.
22:19They're everywhere.
22:19That's right.
22:20You've got to remember whether you're doing planting or mulching, you want to be able
22:23to see that root flare when you're done.
22:25All right.
22:26Good tips and great show, guys.
22:27So until next time, I'm Kevin O'Connor.
22:29I'm Roger Cook.
22:29I'm Richard Threwitt.
22:30And I'm Tom Silver.
22:31For Ask This Old House.
22:33So are they all doomed?
22:34No, because everyone's going to pay me to fix it.
22:36Nice business.
22:37Good work.
22:38I like it.
22:49Good work.
22:51I like it.
23:08I'm God.
23:11I like it.
23:12I like it.
23:13You