Seasons & episodes

After a ride out to the beach reservation known as Coatue with with Nantucket Conservation Foundation director Jim Lentowski to see both the natural beauty of the preserve and a 1920's fishing shack, used by the foundation's rangers, that represents a simpler time on the island, we return to the house. Our master carpenter questions Bruce Killen on his preferred method of clapboarding: 3"" exposure, sunken nails, an no back-caulking. Bruce shows him several examples of this ""Nantucket style"" in the neighborhood. Out back, foreman Mike Lynch shows us the new deck system, which uses ipe, or Brazilian black walnut, an extremely hard and long-lasting hardwood. Our host takes viewers to a planned community called Nashaquisset, whose density, landscaping, and architectural detailing recalls traditional Nantucket. Back at the site, designer Jock Gifford shows us the Victorian fence he proposes for the house, citing a historical precedent on Main Street.

We visit the Nantucket Marine Lab and its director, Rob Garrison, to see efforts of augment the islande's scallop population. At the house, Bruce Killen tells us that the Historic District Commission has rejected as ""too fancy"" the proposed Victorian fence, approving instead a simple Quaker picket. Painters Gerry Ratnecht and George Loranger applied a plastic filler to nail holes, sand, and lay down a top-quality latex paint on an island used to oil. Inside, Bruce sees carpenter Joe Topham finish out a new window with traditional Victorian trim. We meet landscaper Michael Flanagan, who is dry-laying walls of Pennsylvania fieldstone, then plasterer Howie Nair shows us what's involved in repairing the broken plaster cornice mouldings in the front room. Finally, we catch up with energy-conservation specialist David Weitz as he conducts a blower-door test on the building, trying to seal it up to meet the high standards of the utility company.

Our master carpenter boards the fishing boat of Capt. Tom Mleczko in search of the mighty striped bass and hooks one on his first cast. Fresh from his triumph, he arrives on the job to see a pressed-metal (""tin"") ceiling going up panel-by-panel in the kitchen, while Barry Cohen and crew installing a decorative solid-surface bath stall in the kids' bathroom. In the mudroom, tiler David Goodwin (the fishing expedition's first mate), lays out a Welsh tile mudroom floor; viewers tour of the small factory in Whales where the tiles were maufactured.

After a visit to the Milestone Cranberry Bog in time for the October harvest, viewers meet up with Bruce Killen who discusses the punch list - it looks like the project will not quite be finished by the show's last taping. Inside, tiler David Goodman shows our master carpenter how he copes a decorative tile molding for the powder room using a water-cooled diamond band saw. We visited with Chuck Davis, who brought back the old pine floors upstairs and is laying a new ""floating floor"" system in the rest of the house. Richard Trethewey and ground-source heat-pump expert Carl Orio fire up the new system and review the air-to-air heat exchanger in the attic, necessitated by the tight envelope the building now has. Our host arrives to find cabinet designer Gina MacVicar going over the kitchen, family room, and master suite cabinets, while outside, lanscaper Mike Flanagan is puting in hydrangeas and day lilies to set off the crushed stone parking tray. Fence installer Ron Dugas shows us the n

The crew starts off the last Nantucket show up to their chest in water, harvesting the succulent bay scallop. At the house, the final rush is on. Our master carpenter sees a wallbed unit going into the library/guest room, while Richard shows us some of the toilet fixtures and faucets for the house's new bathrooms. One of the toilets, which manufacturer calls the ""Peacekeeper,"" flushes only by closing the seat. The following day, the crew arrives to find the final coat of paint going on the restored front doors, complemented by brass hardware whose high-tech finish will stand up to Nantucket's harsh seaside enironment. Lighting designer Melissa Guenet takes viewers through some of the reproduction Victorian fixtures she's chosen for the house, while our host visits a lighting maufacturer's lab, where designers can learn how to use various types of fixtures to achieve the desire effect. Syd Conway, who grew up in the house, drops by to give his blessing on what's been done to the family

This Old House hits Tucson, Arizona, for an eight-part winter project: the renovation and and expansion of Jim and Colleen Meigs' 1930 Pueblo Revival home. After an overview of Tucson's sights - tract housing, golf courses, Old Tucson Studios, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the Air Force's ""Boneyard"" of old planes, Biosphere 2, and the magnificent Catholic mission San Xavier del Bac - we head to the Meigs' house, where we see that the homeowners have for nearly 20 years, they are pretty certain: a new kitchen, an outdoor cooking area, a finished courtyard with fountain, a media room, library, a new master suite and a new coat of stucco. Their target cost is around $150,000. As Jim is an architectural designer, we visit one of his completed houses. However, since as Jim puts it, ""A new lawyer who defends himself has a fool for a client,"" he has hired an architect for his own job - Alexandra Hayes. She shows us the model she has built for the proposed project.

The show opens at Casa Cordova, one of the last remaining pieces of early Tucson. Built in 1848 within the original presido (""walled fort"") walls, the Casa is now preserved as part of the Tucson Museum of Art. At the job site, the crew arrives to find progress well underway.Genreal contractor John McCaleb inspects termite and honeybee damage with continuing on to the new addition, whose walls are complete, put up in four days by a two-man crew using hollow building blocks made from recycled styrofoam and concrete. With rebar added horizontally and vertically and concrete poured in, the new walls achieve a remarkable R-36 rating. Then we visit the magificent Catholic mission San Xavier del Bac, built in the late 1700s and now undergoing extensive renovations, some of which incorporate prickly pear juice! Then it's back to the house where plumber Dan LaBlue is using flexible plastic (PEX) tubing instead of copper for the building' water supply.

The show opens with a hike in the natural splendor of Sabino Canyon, in the northern foothills of Tucson. At the house, a crew prepares and pours a colored and scored concrete floor, a typical detail in older Arizona homes. Homeowner Jim Meigs and our host discuss design issues concerning the new powder/laundry room and outdoor and indoor kitchens, and then we visit cabinetmaker James Vosnos at his shop, where the kitchen's cabinets are coming together in Mexican mesquite. Richard Trethewey and HVAC contractor Marshall Dennington review the heating and cooling system Marshall has design for the house, including a natural gas-powered air-conditioning unit, electronic air cleaner, humidifier, and high-function thermostatic controls. Finally, we visit Old Tucson Studios, a moviemaking mecca since the 1930s, recently rebuilt after a catastrophic fire.

An early moring breakfast at a tradtional Mexican restaurant prepares the crew for a job site abuzz with traditional handwork and products, as well as state-of-the-art technology. Interior plaster goes up the old-fashioned way with Gilberto Chavez's crew, while we see a high-tech stucco system go on over the old adobe exterior. Contractor John McCaleb takes us to the historic colonial town of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, a center for traditional crafts. In nearby Delores Hidalgo, the handmade terraccotta tiles for the Meigs' veranda are hand made in a method nearly 300 years old. Back on site, Colleen Meigs sees the beginnings of her ""endless"" pool going in.

The show opens with a visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, where the natural-looking environments are the result of painstaking human artistry, including the casting and construction of artificial rocks. On site, new windows have arrived, and window consultant Forrest Campbell explains their features, including true-divided-light appearance with thermal pane efficiency, custom-matched, high performance exterior paint, and, for the French doors, a one-move, three-point pin locking mechanism. Outside, the entire Meigs residence begins to get a new skin, as insulated board goes over the failed stucco, to be followed by a new fiberglass and acrylic stucco coat. HVAC installer Marshall Dennington explains why the system was broken into three separate units. In the master bath, David Kelly is putting in tile and electrician Dan LaBlue is installing a steam shower unit. Finally, we check in with Shelly Kessler and her crew, who are modifyingthe old bedroom floor with a walnut inlay to m

Before heading to the job site, we pay a visit to the Air Force's AMARC, a vast collection of mothballed aircraft preserved in the Tucson desert for use as parts, for storage, or for destruction. As the Meigs' house, Mexican tile is going down in the courtyard, the new mesquite kitchen cabinets are in place, and we see the process of putting in poured concrete countertops, a first for This Old House. The library cabinet is the work of Tom Klijian, who has fashioned floor-to-ceiling bookshelves out of black walnut. Viewers take a tour of Tucson straw bale houses - one finished, one under construction with expert Matts Myhrman and builder John Woodin. Tucson is a national center of this environmentally friendly building technology. Back on site, a beautiful set of glass doors seals off the steam shower.

After a trip downtown to Tucson's Hotel Congress, built in 1919 and the site of John Dillinger's hideout back in 1934, we return to the Meigs' house, concrete pavers are laying the driveway - consistent in size but varied in color, they form a hard-wearing cobblestone-like surface. We inspect the outdoor kitchen's gas barbecue, whie in the indoor kithcen cabinetmaker James Vosnos puts the finishing touches on the mesquite cabinetry. James Murdock puts the finishing touches on the ""endless"" pool, while NCAA swimmer Sean Pepper test it out. Our plumbing and heating expert checks out the house's water treatment equipment, then takes viewers around Tucson to see the ongoing challenges the city faces in its struggle to satisfy its water needs. Our host takes a look at a new privacy glazing in the master bath - it uses a liquid crystal and electricity to switch between transperancy and opacity while the flooring contractors finish up the library floor.

As the Tucson project enters its final days, our host takes viewers to Biosphere 2 in nearby Oracle. Site of two experiments in self-sustained living, Biosphere 2 is now part of Columbia University's earth sciences program, serving as a laboratory for research into the effects of so-called greenhouse gases thought to be causing global warming. At the house, the finishing coat of the re-stuccoing system is going on, as well as a water-based highly reflective and waterproof roof coating. We check out a termite control system that uses insect growth hormones rather than poison, then tour the Meigs' beautiful new kitchen, complete with mesquite cabinets, black concrete counters, and gleaming stainless-steel commercial-grade appliances. We find cabinetmaker Tom Klijian behind his new library shelves-cum-powder room door. On the final day, Richard Trethewey arrives to check out the master bath, with walk-in closet with custom shelving, whirlpool bath, separate toilet/bidet room and a mahogan

The show opens in the historic town of Milton, Massachusetts, founded in 1662 and the site of the c. 1725 Colonial home the show purchased for renovation and eventual sale. The This Old House crew looks the old structure over, including the massive post-and-beam barn on the property. The diagnosis: questionable room layout for modern life, some rot, but a remarkable sound house with a lot of potential. Jinny Devine, owner for the past 38 years, recalls raising her family of four boys in the home.

Our host arrives to find excavator Herb Brockert preparing to knock down the rotting ell off the barn. The crew salvage a few valuable bits before it goes, including the cupola and an arched window. A group of young men, from a program that acts as an alternative to juvenile detention, work to dismantle the brick patio in the back of the house and haul in fiberboard to protect the house's delicate old floorboards. Architect Rick Bechtel and our host discuss some ideas about reworking the house's floorplan, including moving the kitchen from the dark northeast side to the sunny south. Our host goes to New York City to visit the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club Decorators Show House, which has been going annually for 25 years, to get ideas for turning the Milton house into a similar showcase at the end of the renovation. Richard Trethewey checks out the the house's aging heating system, complete with solar collector.

The show opens with a visit to the top of Great Blue Hill and its historic weather observatory (built in 1885) to view the sights: the town of Milton, downtown Boston (8 miles northeast), and the 7,000 acres of parkland that comprise the Blue Hills Reservation. At the jobsite, the crew takes up planks in the front part of the barn in preparation for turning it into a garage; the structure reveals various areas of rot and poor construction. Forms are in place to accept the concrete coming to make up the new workshop's foundation, and landscape architect Tom Wirth assesses some of the site's challenges, including a lack of proper accesss to the front prospect of the house. Historic photos shows a gravel or shell drive that once passed by the home's front, and Tom thinks a similar scheme would be appropriate. Insulation specialist Graeme Kirkland shows us the results of a blower door test he's conducting: the house changes its interior air 11 times an hour in a simulated 15-mile-an-hour w

Our master carpenter lays out lines for subslab ductwork in his workshop, and the crew strips off the barn's old shingles. They will use a shingle panel system when they replace the siding. Tom Silva shows us his new jobsite trailer, leased complete with office and secure storage room. A surveyor works to put together a certified plot plan, while we see the excavation work around the main house for the kitchen foundation and for a perimeter drain along the front rubblestone foundation for years. In the barn, our master carpenter puts in one of the new post to make room for the garage to come - earlier he used new one-piece footing forms and a waterborne lazer level to provide solid bases for the new posts, poured by a small-batch concrete delivery truck. In the future media room, the crew removes the lally column, holding up the building with jacks and a cripple wall before inserting a flitch beam of laminated veneer lumber and steel.

Our master carpenter's workshop continues to take shape, as Richard Trethewey lays out radiant floor heating tubes over a layer of rigid insulation. We meet audio/visual systems contractor Steve Hayes to get a preview of what the new media room may look like, and visit a showroom to see the range of equipment options. We see a virtual walk-through of the new workshop put together by Randy Levere, while the crew tears down the old kitchen addition, which has revealed itself to be woefully built. Paint stripper Brooks Washburn uses a paraffin-based paste to remove dozens of layers of old paint from the front staircase, and our host suggests trying it out on the historic front facade. Finally, the concrete arrives to complete the floor of the new workshop.

A big day on the site: the structural insulated panels for the new workshop are hoisted into place - they, along with a massive ridge beam of engineered lumber, form the entire workshop structure, complete with window, door, and sklight openings. We are introduced to a range of metal roofing available to top off the workshop, while our host meets furniture and finishes restorer Robert Mussey in his shop, brings him back to the house, and gets some advice on the care and feeding of the historic pine paneling. Landscape architect Tom Wirth checks in with Milton town civil engineer Jim Greene about moving the driveway and any wetland issues involved.

The house's new spaces are framed and sheated, giving us a chance to tour the new kitchen and media room. The front facade is now completely stripped of its burden of 200 years' of paint, ready for primer and a new color. Architect Rick Bechtel and window specialist Mike Roach discuss the new windows they are specifying for the new work (all wood units, double hung, insulating glazing, applied six-over-six muntins), and decide that, rather than being replaced, the historic sash of the front part of the building should be restored and weatherstripped. At the workshop, we see now, low-cost, breathable building wrap, then watch as the crew installs one of the new skylights. Then a roll-forming machine spits out metal roof panels for the building's new standing-steam roof. Finally, we see the engineered wood product that is being used to trim out the house - it's very stable, warpfree, consistent, and cheaper than clear pine.

Victory Garden chef Marian Morash and kitchen designer Phil Mossgraber work to refine a plan for the new kitchen, with special attention to window and appliance placement. Out in the workshop, T.J. Silva uses an airless sprayer to apply a stainkilling primer to the interior walls and ceiling, while the crew begin to apply the newly arrived shingle system: 2' x 8' panels, prestrained, with braided corner units that go up quick and cost less than uninstalled traditional shingles. Security system consultant Steve Yusko shows us the wireless radio transmitter that will link the property's alarms with a central monitoring station, redundant with the regular phone link. In the media room, a/v expert Steve Hayes pulls speaker wires and adjusts the rooftop DSS (digital satellite system) dish to pull in a clear signal. Finally, lighting designer Josh Feinstein gives a tour of the many lighting control options available for the new house.

Our host arrives to find our master carpenter unpacking the new stationary woodworking tools for the workshop; they admire the newly shingled barn, whose panelized shingle system the general contractor estimates saved him almost two weeks' labor. At the main house, the crew shingles the low-pitch roof over the media room, taking special care to first cover the deck with a waterproofing membrane. Inside, we see the restructuring being done in the dining room: using engineered I-joist to level the ceiling and reinforce the floor above; carefully removing the old floorboards to get the rotted subfloor, strengthening it with more I-joist and a new plywood deck. Our host meets with chefs Julia Child and Marian Morash in the kitchen to discuss the layout, work surfaces, islands, tables, and flooring options. Out at the workshop, the team puts togehter the deck using an undermount system and decking made of recycled plastic bags and sawdust, and checks out the nerw woodworking tools. We watch

Richard Trethewey is on site to see the new gas line being laid and the old oil tanks removed, courtesy of a gas company program. Coppersmith Larry Stearns shows off the fabulous copper weathervane he's made for the new workshop cupola, which he and the master carpenter place the roof. Arborist Matt Foti and his crew work to clear the way for the new driveway, as well as cleaning up damage and debris from the spring's surprise snowstorm. We recieve a tour of the studded up master bathroom, and watch as a new kind of retractable screen system is put in at the workshop's new French doors. Excavation contractor Herb Brockert shows us the work he's done laying in the new driveway and discusses his concerns about properly draining the site. Finally, paint expert Andrea Gilmore shows us the results of her research of the house's exterior: 16 coats of paint, the last eight of which were white, with earlier schemes ranging over from the original dark brown with red trim to a putty color to a y

Our master carpenter inspects the new garage doors, made of redwood to look like old-fashioned outswing carriage doors but operated like modern overheads. The construction crew thickens the sills of the new windows to match the old trim style and installs a three-window mulled unit in the kitchen. Our host tours Milton with realitor Susan Bolgar-Wiesjohn to see what kind of properties are available in this town of 25,000, just 9 miles from downtown Boston. Lighting designer Josh Feinstein gives us an overview of the workshop's new lighting package, while landscape architect Tom Wirth and architect Rick Bechtel discuss plans for the shade garden.