Watch This Old House

The work is busy with flooring and finish carpentry. A custom pizza oven and fireplace is installed.

The once rotting Seaside Victorian Cottage is restored to its original beauty under the guidelines of the Historic Commission. A new addition matches the existing architectural details. New hardscape and landscape anchor it to the corner lot.

The end of the project is quickly approaching and there is still much to be done. Tommy helps hang the pantry door, and tiling and backsplash work continue as the crew creates a custom surround for the gas fireplace.

Trees and sod arrive. The deck hatch is installed. Inside, a Wifi lock and new rangehood.

Interior trim, electric meter and panels; limestone patio, storm windows; Victorian shed.

While the finishes are happening inside, a pizza oven arrives and is installed outside.

Tom watches ceiling mounted speakers disappear. Richard oversees the startup of a new HVAC system.

Mark shows off a cobblestone apron at the driveway and the crew reinforces old floor joists.

Yankee Gutters and corbels; a Gen Next electrician lesson; tankless hot water system.

Queen Ann Victorian windows and shingle installation. Landscape meeting with homeowners.

Repurposed bricks for the chimney. Staggered shingles on the porch. Shower drain install.

Decorative Queen Anne style barge rafters are reproduced for the addition. Richard Trethewey shows how Jeff Sweenor’s team hid the mechanicals in the house. At Jeff’s shop, Tom Silva meets Jeff and Riley as they rebuild old sashes and build new ones. Back at the house, they install a refurbished original window. Tom shows a new window with simulated divided lights that resembles the originals.

The Generation Next initiative encourages young people to consider the building trades as a viable and rewarding career.

From demo day and design, to selecting the finishing touches, we follow every step as the homeowners decide on the components and the crew converts a decades-old butler's pantry kitchen into an up-to-date kitchen for the future.

Featuring talented makers who make beautiful household items we meet a lumberjack who sources his own cypress from the bottom of a river and turns it into a unique table. In Detroit, a stained-glass artist restores original window panels. A family run business creates a metal stovetop hood. A painter shows a Lazure technique for the walls of a bedroom. Blacksmithing students forge an iron gate.

From precast concrete foundation walls to bathtubs and doors to windows, This Old House explores the places and people who provide building and finishing materials for our projects. Kevin visits factories in US and Canada to see how foundation walls, framing lumber, and doors are made, while Richard travels to see watch how a bathtub is fabricated and glass is melted for windows.

We take a tour of kitchens