Kevin: Today on "This Old House"...

So, Peter, Kay, we kicked out nine months ago.

I've heard someone refer to it as your "house baby"?

Peter: That we do.

Kay: Here we are, nine months later.

Kevin: How does it feel to be home again?

Kay: It's amazing.

Peter: Yeah, we're so grateful.

Kevin: Our homeowners move into their 1920s colonial in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

♪♪ Man: Ahh.

That's it.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Kevin: Hey, there.

I'm Kevin O'Connor, and welcome back to "This Old House" and to our project here in Ridgewood, New Jersey, where, today, we are wrapping up work on our 1920s Colonial.

So, not a lot of changes to the outside of this house.

The original siding came off, and then once that was off, there was a membrane that was put on the entire house to protect against air and water infiltration.

And then, the new siding went up, which was seven days of siding.

The window openings, they all stayed the same, but we did replace the windows with new casements, so we got some efficiency, and we got that modern look that the homeowners were going for.

When it comes to the landscaping, Jenn pretty much just thinned it out here to make some room and just some small cosmetic changes.

So the portico is original, but Zack and his guys wrapped the posts with oak and a new oak door right there.

Speaking of Zack.

Hey, guys.

Zack: Hey, Kevin.

Kevin: Hey.

Good to see you.

Congrats.

Zack: Thank you so much.

Kevin: So, second project for us.

How's it feel?

Is it any easier this time?

Zack: You know, it was a little bit more routine this time around.

Kevin: We're breaking him in.

Zack: Yeah.

But it went really well.

Like, the trade partners and everyone on our team did an amazing job, and we had a lot of support from you guys, so it's a lot of fun.

Tom: Yeah, I really liked the size of this project.

I mean, you have the small addition off the back, two floors, but you did a great job on the original footprint of the house, both inside and out.

And it really came out great.

Kevin: High praise right there.

Richard: Yeah.

Zack: I'll take it.

Kevin: So, Jenn, landscaping looks good from what I can see.

Front of the house looks good.

I'd love to see the inside.

Anyone want to give me a tour?

Richard: You want to see the attic or the basement?

That's my world.

Kevin: You know, after all these years, I have to confess, no.

[ Laughter ] I would first -- Maybe the first floor, inside, second floor.

What do you got?

Jenn: Uh, I've got to go inspect the patio, if you want to come out there.

Kevin: Okay, possible.

Tom: Zack and I got a little job to do upstairs, so we're pretty busy.

Richard: Yeah.

Zack: You know, I saw Peter just go in the front door.

Kevin: I can take a hint, guys.

I can take a hint.

Zack: Hey, Tommy, can you carry this box of tools?

♪♪ Kevin: Hey, Peter, good to see you.

Peter: Good to see you, too.

Welcome back.

Kevin: Thank you very much.

Big day for you.

Peter: Big day.

Kevin: Are you excited?

Peter: Very excited to have you here.

Kevin: Well, I'm going to start you off by asking you to take my jacket.

Peter: I'm glad to do that.

And I can put that in our new closet.

Kevin: Yes.

Used to be the stairs going straight forward, but you guys made some changes.

Peter: We did.

Kevin: So, look at this.

Nice and crisp and clean.

Peter: So, we made a few changes in here.

First, we got rid of the track lighting.

Kevin: The old '70s track lighting, gone.

Peter: Gone.

Kevin: This is much nicer.

Peter: Thank you.

And we widened the window to have a much wider view of the backyard.

Kevin: You like the view?

Peter: We do.

We do.

There it used to be a door over here, which we've closed up and made into a wall, so it's a little bit of a cozier space.

Kevin: Mm-hmm.

Kept the fireplace, obviously.

Just cleaned it up.

And kept the single door to your office now.

Peter: We did.

And in here, we actually made a few changes.

First thing you might notice is, there's no more space heaters.

Kevin: That's a nice improvement.

It was a cold room.

Peter: Was a very cold room.

And Zack put great insulation in the ceiling and in the walls.

Kevin: Yeah.

Peter: Bright white to keep the energy going while I work.

And there's a new HVAC system there that Richard spec'd out, which is fantastic.

Kevin: And you've got yourself a beautiful view.

Peter: We do.

This was, like, the inspiration for going to the James Rose Center and thinking about what the vignette would be outside this window, so that when I step away from calls, I can look at the backyard and see the beauty that's there.

Kevin: I think you nailed it.

Peter: Well, the bigger changes we actually made are over here, though, so let me show you that.

So, Kevin, you remember this is our dining room here, and we had a stained-glass window here, which we saved, but we've opted for all-new windows here to bring more light into the space while still honoring the original character of the front of the house.

Kevin: Tight budget, so use as much of the original house as possible.

Peter: Yeah, but actually opening up this space to be more continuous with the living room by taking out the wall that is right... Kevin: Right.

Wall used to be sort of right about there.

When you move walls, you got to deal with the floors.

You guys had original strip oak, which you kept throughout.

You did have to add some, so there's a little weave right there.

Indistinguishable.

Peter: Can't see it at all.

Kevin: And then all the new oak down the hallway.

Peter: Which is where the big changes really start.

Kevin: Right.

Peter: So, as we moved the hallway to the center of the house and widened it, that allowed us to put the entrance to the staircase here, where our tiny little airplane bathroom used to be.

Kevin: Right.

Peter: We moved that bathroom across here and made it a full bath.

Kevin: From half bath to full bath.

That's nice.

Peter: It is nice.

So we can use this now for when guests stay over.

We have more bathrooms for the family, and we have a ground floor bathroom for older guests, as well.

Kevin: So, love the floating vanity, and tile across all surfaces.

Peter: Love the large-format tile and the curbless shower that we have.

And it's really like a little Zen restroom.

Kevin: [ Chuckles ] Yeah, it's a big step up.

Peter: Big step up.

Kevin: You also picked up more space so that you could add a pantry?

Peter: Yes.

We never had a pantry before.

We had to keep everything down in the basement.

So now we can move everything up here, which is great.

This is where the kitchen used to be.

That was the kitchen window.

We love the quartz countertop that we have here.

And this tile is saved from a renovation that my wife and mother-in-law did about 10 years ago.

Kevin: [ Chuckles ] You finally got to use it.

Peter: Finally got to use it.

They got to put it in with Tommy, which is cool.

Kevin: Yeah.

Peter: And because of budget, we went with pretty standard cabinets but maximalist hardware to dress up a little bit.

Kevin: And it does dress it up.

And you know what?

Pantries are nice things to have, so well done with this one.

♪♪ Zack: All right.

So, here's the door.

Charlie and I basically put this red-oak flooring all over this and attempted to mask this door as good as possible.

Tom: Yeah.

Zack: And then once we finished, Charlie put this doorknob on, and it kind of looked like it popped out.

It was floating in no-man's-land.

Tom: Yeah.

I mean, the glass knobs look great.

I love them.

But on this door, they're really pronounced.

Zack: Exactly.

So Charlie had the idea, he said, "Do you think Tommy would turn us one that would match the door?"

Tom: Charlie had that idea?

Zack: That was Charlie's idea.

Tom: Yeah, well, I made his idea come true.

That's a piece of red oak.

Zack: What?!

[ Laughs ] This is amazing.

Look at this.

Tom: Blends in pretty good.

Zack: Yeah, even the grain, the orientation of the grain kind of blends right in with the door.

Tom: Yeah.

So you have the black escutcheon, and you have this black section right here.

Zack: The perfect fit.

Tom: Yeah.

So I thought I would take another piece and make it to hide that.

So you just have the escutcheon plate like the light switch and the plate around that.

Zack: Honestly, that's pretty much more impressive than the knob itself.

I've never seen a piece turned that thin.

And how do you -- how do you keep this from cracking?

Tom: Well, I basically turned the grain the tall way, and then, basically, once I turned it, I oversized it slightly, and then I put a hardener in the wood to stiffen it up.

Yeah.

Zack: That's pretty cool.

All right.

Should we put it on and give it a shot?

Tom: Let's put it on.

Yeah, see what it looks like.

Zack: Back that screw back in.

Now this can slide off.

Tom: There you go.

Zack: All right.

Let's see if that works.

You think it'll work first time?

Tom: It already looks good.

Zack: Let's see here.

Back that out.

All right, there we go.

Tom: Looks pretty good.

Zack: That's perfect.

This collar really sets it off nicely.

Tom: Looks good.

Zack: Well done.

Nice craftsmanship.

Thank you very much.

Tom: My pleasure.

Kay: Hey, Zack.

Zack: Hey, you gotta check out this doorknob Tommy made.

Kay: Ooh, Tommy!

Nice!

Tom: Yeah.

Kay: What is this?

Tom: Pretty nice, huh?

Kay: Yeah.

This looks amazing.

We were really wanting this door to disappear into this wall.

Tom: Yeah, you're trying to hide it into the wall.

Kay: Yeah, and this does a really nice job.

Tom: Yeah, I like the wood.

It's nice and warm wood.

Kay: Yeah.

Our architect, Jeff, really is drawn to wood and light.

So you see the wood obviously here on the floor.

You see that in the beams above.

Tom: Up on the collar ties.

Very nice, yeah.

Kay: Yeah.

Tom: I like it.

Kay: As well as the trim around the windows.

Tom: And I like the fine line of the trim.

Kay: Yeah.

Really, really, really nice.

Tom: But you do have a lot of glass there.

Kay: We do have a lot of glass, and there is a lot of light in this room.

So we did blackout shades because it's a bedroom.

Tom: Yeah.

Kay: Because you don't want to be waking up at the crack of dawn.

Tom: I would imagine they'll keep some of the heat out if you keep them down on a hot day in the summer.

Kay: And that, too.

So we're really excited about this space.

So we were going to do two bathrooms up here on the second floor, but due to budget reasons, we decided just to go with one full bath up here, one full bath downstairs.

We wanted to make sure our guests felt like they had a sense of privacy.

So the door is nice and heavy.

It's got weatherstripping on all four sides.

Tom: Yep.

Kay: So that the sound is deadened for whoever's in there.

Tom: Makes a big difference.

Kay: It does make a big difference.

Tom: The bathroom's beautiful.

Kay: Thank you, yes.

We were able to put in a bigger vanity, a longer tub, and then took the ceiling up.

And so you can see the skylight here.

Tom: That really gives it an illusion of being a lot bigger.

Kay: Yeah.

So.

we did tall, skinny mirrors and tall sconces just to carry the vertical line up.

Tom: Yeah, the vertical look of all the tile, too.

Kay: Yeah, that's true, right.

Tom: Gives the room a lot of height.

Kay: It does.

Tom: And this is the door for the guests, which is really nice.

Kay: Yeah.

And Genevieve will use this, too.

So, out here, we didn't change a lot.

We cleaned up, you know, the closets and the rest of these bedrooms.

We upgraded the electrical just so, you know, we didn't have anything to worry about.

Tom: New doors, new windows.

Kay: Got new doors, got new windows, expanded the window over here in my office, similar to what we did downstairs.

Tom: Yeah, it's really nice.

And I like the fact that the inspector will let you keep the original railing.

Kay: He did.

We refinished it.

The guys did a great job with this.

But, yeah, this is -- this is what was here before.

Tom: Yeah.

Looks great.

Kay: Yeah.

Thank you.

We're so glad we got to keep that original part of the house.

♪♪ Richard: Hey, Kay.

Kay: Hey, Richard.

Richard: How are you?

Kay: Good.

How are you?

Richard: Welcome to this newfound space.

Kay: Yeah, thank you.

It's nice to see you down here again.

Richard: Pretty different, isn't it?

Kay: Yeah.

Richard: When I got here, there was that big old steam boiler here.

And you had no heat, right?

Kay: We had a catastrophic failure.

Richard: Did that lead to the entire renovation?

Kay: It got us to pull the trigger on it really quickly.

Richard: No, it's all gone.

And then, all the pipes and radiators are gone, and the new heating and air-conditioning is all done with this mini-duct system, so that bought us all this space here in the basement.

Peter: Which I talk about all the time.

I love the fact that you helped us save the usable space in this... Richard: Great.

You could do exercise equipment, all kinds of stuff down here.

So, brand-new drain line, you know, in the building.

All new water piping inside the building.

So this is the copper out to the irrigation system.

You've got PEX water connections for all inside the building.

The most important thing that every homeowner should know is right here.

Where is the main shut-off valve?

If anything ever happens, you know that this is the one you want to turn off right here.

The other thing I love is this -- the smart valve.

So this thing will feel the amount of water going through, and you'll be able to monitor it from your phone on an app.

But more importantly, it's actually smart enough to know if you ever had a leak, it would shut that valve off automatically.

So that's really great if you go away in the winter, if you had a frozen pipe.

So you were worried about water quality, as I remember -- water and the air quality, right?

Peter: Yes.

Richard: So, I love this -- a cartridge filter here.

You got a softener here, so you're going to make sure the basic water quality is better.

Peter: So, Ridgewood has really hard water, and I know we need this system.

How often do we need to keep an eye on it to maintain it?

Richard: Really depends on how hard the water is.

It's got these resin beads right here and they become sacrificial, so you can visually check it and put more in if you need it.

Peter: Okay, good.

Kay: Hmm.

And we've got a reverse-osmosis system up in the kitchen, too.

Richard: Great.

So that gives you guaranteed water right at the source where you need it, so... A lot better to do laundry down here.

A little nicer than it was before?

Kay: Yeah, yeah.

No, it's great.

Thanks.

Richard: So this is Command Central in the corner.

You always had the radon system.

This is the ductwork right here.

But what Zack has done is, he's added this sump pump, and that becomes the place to be able to pull the radon out, but it's also a place where the drainage can go, so it works as two functions.

This has a fan to pull that radon up and out of the building safely, and it's all sealed.

No, radon is going to get in there, so... All right.

And this is Command Central.

Instead of that big ol' gas-fired steam boiler, this is a gas-fired condensing combination boiler.

It heats the water for the building, but it also makes the hot water for the faucets.

If you open up your faucet, then and only then does the burner come on.

You could leave that faucet running forever.

So that's pretty -- pretty amazing.

I wished every job looked as clean as this.

It's so organized, it's labeled, it's color-coded.

Kay: This is great because nothing is a mystery.

Although I do have one question.

How do I know which way is off?

Richard: So, these are called ball valves.

And the handle actually is really a clear indicator.

That's the flow.

And think about it -- if I turn this this way, it's telling you that we've stopped it, and I know that I would stop the flow of the leak upstairs.

But here's how the system works.

Heated water leaves here.

It's really efficient.

The water comes through here, and this pump sends heated water up to the air handler up in the attic.

So up in the attic, if you look, there's a hot-water heating coil.

It's just like an automobile radiator.

And air blows across that radiator or the coil and gets heated up in the winter.

Kay: Yeah.

Richard: In the summer, there's a second coil that's just behind that, the air-conditioning coil, and that connects to the inverter condensing unit outside.

So that's the cooling, right?

Then it's one smart blower, and that pushes air out through the ductwork, and you have one zone on the top floor and one on the first floor, okay?

So there's not much you got to do.

The only thing I would tell you is, air quality is important to you guys.

This thing's got a filter on the back side of it.

So I think you want to have that checked at least once a year.

The filter that we have is the one you should match.

Okay?

And then probably the best thing about this system is what I haven't mentioned yet.

Have you been in the kitchen yet?

Kay: Yeah.

The floor -- Richard: Did you take your slippers off?

Kay: The floors are warm.

It's great!

Richard: So this is the pump that goes out to the radiant.

And this -- you know, they were pouring the slab, and it was like, "Wait a minute.

We can't let that slab get poured without putting a little tubing."

And because you have a heating boiler, we could use it for radiant heating.

Kay: Yeah.

Richard: So I hope you are going to be comfortable just about forever here.

Peter: And very thankful.

Kay: We're really grateful.

Richard: Great.

Kay: Yeah.

♪♪ Kevin: Hey, Zack.

Zack: Hey, Kevin.

Kevin: So I don't know if you know this or not, but I am calling the addition "Zack's House" because you had a lot of pre-existing constraints to deal with in the old house, but this was all new, and you and your team could do whatever you want to solve all the problems.

Zack: Yeah.

So the homeowner wanted better access to the driveway, better access to the yard.

And this, which now leads to the basement, was actually the back door that led them into a landing, which took them up to their old kitchen.

Kevin: And storage because you gave them a tiny little mudroom area, which is nice.

Zack: Yeah.

And check this out.

A little homage to you.

Kevin: Oh, look at you.

You got the cust-- So, Dettmore and "This Old House" together on the drawer.

Very nice.

Zack: Not bad, right?

But let me show you the kitchen.

Kevin: Please, yeah.

So I've seen the cabinets go in but not really the final effect.

And, again, they asked you for visual access to the backyard, and you gave it to them with this big corner window, the walls of glass.

That's awesome.

Zack: Yeah.

Peter's really excited to work here.

We made this bench just for his specifications.

And you'll see, for the HVAC, we've got three registers sort of washing that window for comfort.

But then, you know, if you're sitting there or washing, you don't really want to have those curtains of air hitting you.

So what we did, because we had a soffit installed here, we're able to put two registers there that are blowing this way, which allow to sort of wash this area without it being a curtain of air directly on you.

Kevin: Right.

And so that idea of building the soffits -- I mean, drywall is cheaper than cabinetry, and you were sort of building this space so that you get the most efficient cabinet layout boxes as possible.

Zack: Exactly.

And, you know, there's a couple little frugal touches like they went with stock appliances here.

So, basically, you could swap out this 36-inch fridge or this 30-inch range.

The only flair we did was, we went with a standard-sized dishwasher, but we did panelize that, so it kind of blends in with the cabinetry more.

Kevin: Not a big upcharge to just do the panel on one of the appliances.

Zack: No, just -- just one panel, similar install.

We gave them a bunch of drawers.

And the drawers really allow you to be able to access everything more.

So you're getting more storage in a small area.

Kevin: So you prefer the drawer storage to the door storage.

Zack: Exactly.

Kevin: All right.

You got it.

So, nice, clean look.

The homeowners asked for that.

So I'm seeing that the lights are under cabinet, but that's where the receptacles are, as well.

So you get this sort of uninterrupted tile work right here.

Hexag-- Oh, check that out.

You sort of went from a full backsplash to... Zack: Little fade down to the edge right here.

Kevin: Little fade -- like your hair.

Zack: Right?

Very jersey look.

Let me show you this.

We had to sneak in a little outlet here to meet code, but we wanted it to be easily disguised.

Kevin: So you have to have something close enough and all.

So that had to go -- That's pretty clever.

All right.

Zack: Yeah.

In the spirit of being simple, if you have water filtration, typically, you have an auxiliary faucet for it.

But right here, it's just built right in.

So there's your filtered water.

There's your washing water.

Kevin: So you got a filter -- Oh, you do have a filtration system.

Look at that.

Zack: Yeah.

They've got a disposal, all the connections.

Everything's clean and easy to change.

Kevin: Richard would be proud.

It's kind of like -- Oh, a little light action, too.

It's kind of like one of his mechanical-room layouts.

Very nice.

So, crisp, clean, modern look and on as much of a budget as possible.

And, to me, it looks like a custom kitchen, even though you use a lot of stock materials.

Zack: Yeah, yo one's going to know that it's not custom.

[ Both laugh ] Kevin: Well, what do you say we go find the rest of the crew and our homeowners and maybe take a little victory lap?

Zack: Let's do it.

♪♪ Jenn: Okay, you guys, I think you remember what your yard used to look like.

Peter: Oh, not much.

Jenn: Not very usable space.

But we did a lot of things here.

Kay: Yeah.

Jenn: Stormwater management was a very important part of this project.

We had to collect all the downspouts, tie them all into a system underground, take any runoff from the driveway and put it into the seepage tank into the backyard.

That way, it recharges into the ground.

Nothing is run off into the road.

Peter: If we never have to think about flooding again, it'll be too soon.

Jenn: Absolutely.

The tree.

We did the air spading around it to loosen up the roots and soil.

Peter: And we definitely want to keep these old trees healthy.

Is there anything that we should keep in mind for the future?

Jenn: Remember how we exposed the root flare at the bottom of the tree?

Don't start piling mulch up against it.

Let it breathe.

Let it come out.

It's okay.

It's important to see the flare and just don't compact anything on it.

Peter: Okay.

Jenn: Last but not least, the water feature.

We cut this boulder back in Massachusetts and drove it here and cored it on site.

And it was a fantastic move by your daughter, Genevieve.

She had it facing your window, so when you're at work, you could just zone out at your new fountain.

[ Cheering ] Kay: So, obviously, we've got it running now, but winter's coming, so what do we do in the off-season?

Jenn: All you have to do, scoot back some of the rocks, go in the basin, and pull the pump.

Put it away for the winter and start it back up in the spring.

Kay: Oh, great.

You told us at the time that the patio was the most important room in the house, and we really didn't understand it at the time, but with this transformation, it's pretty apparent.

Jenn: Oh, it really pulls you into your yard.

You could see it from every window in the house.

It just is another great addition.

Kay: We love it.

Kevin: Whole gang's coming in.

Jenn.

Jenn: What's going on?

Kevin: The backyard and patio has never looked so good.

Hardscape, lights, water -- everything.

Jenn: I think it came out very well.

Little input from the homeowners.

Our buddy Drew over there helped us out, so... Kevin: So, Peter, Kay, we kicked you out nine months ago.

I've heard someone refer to it as your "house baby"?

Peter: That we do.

Kay: Here we are, nine months later.

Kevin: How does it feel to be home again?

Peter: It's wonderful.

Kevin: We like to see those smiles, right?

And, Zack and Camille, you landed another one for us.

Well done.

Thank you for that.

How's it feel?

Zack: Feels really good.

I mean, we got an amazing support team of co-workers and trade partners behind us.

It's the way we pull it off.

Camille: Yeah, an amazing thank you to Kay and Peter and Jeff Jordan for entrusting us with their vision.

Kevin: Nice job, Jeff.

Tom: Zack and Camille, again, a beautiful job.

Peter and Kay, you still have your old house, but it now has all-new parts.

Richard: And we love you guys.

We loved the project.

Loved working with you guys.

I mean, we feel like Jersey boys.

Tom: Hey, hey, hey.

Kevin: Converts!

Tom: Don't touch me.

Kevin: We got some converts.

All right.

Well, thank you for the hospitality.

Thank you for the hard work.

We really appreciate it.

And we appreciate you guys tuning in.

Don't worry.

We got a brand-new one coming up right after this.

Back to Massachusetts and back to the 1800s.

So, until then, on behalf of all of us, we are signing off for Ridgewood, New Jersey.

What do you say we have ourselves a party, huh?

All right!

[ Applause ] Let's go!

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Kevin: Next time on "This Old House"... Tom: You can see that the fire was still roaring pretty good right here.

Kevin: Oof!

Tom: See how bad the char is on these joists?

We're back home for the final project of season 46 of "This Old House."

Wow!

Woman: I mean, come on.

This is a grand staircase.

We love the stained glass.

The fireplace is just so beautifully crafted.

Kevin: I love the fact that you can only see the beautiful stuff and ignore everything else.

Woman: Of course.

Woman #2: Of course.

Kevin: You're our kind of people.