**The World of Linear Drains: A Game-Changer in Bathroom Design**

When it comes to bathroom design, one of the most exciting and innovative features that can take a space from ordinary to extraordinary is the linear drain. This sleek and modern solution has been gaining popularity in recent years, and for good reason. Unlike traditional curbless designs, which often rely on clever tile work and creative pitching to create a seamless flow of water, linear drains offer a much more efficient and effective way to direct water away from the shower or bathtub.

As our host, Kevin O'Connor, explains, "This is pretty interesting industry here where it goes inside the wall to allow you to hang that toilet up off the ground nice and hygienic I love these things." The linear drain system involves a specialized drain body that is cut into the floor, which then directs water through a groove in the tile. This design allows for a much more straightforward and efficient way to manage water flow, making it an ideal solution for modern bathrooms.

Historically, custom tile showers often featured a shower strainer in the center of the shower, with tiles pitched towards the center to create a curved surface. However, this design can lead to water accumulating around the curb, creating a messy and unpleasant experience. Linear drains offer a solution to this problem by redirecting water through a groove in the tile, which then flows into a drain located at the back of the shower.

To install a linear drain, one must first cut a hole in the floor, which is then fitted with a specialized drain body that adjusts to the depth of the mud bed. The nipple on this drain body can be adjusted to ensure perfect alignment and levelness, ensuring a seamless fit with the surrounding tile. "This nipple that I'm seeing there looks exactly like the nipple I'm seeing here it just doesn't have this top it actually fits into that so you can adjust it up and down exactly," Kevin notes.

Once the linear drain is installed, it's essential to seal the gaps between the drain and the floor using a specialized silicone ring. This bead of silicone creates a tight seal against the clean underside of the copper pan, ensuring a watertight connection. As Kevin explains, "The key to this seal is actually a silicone ring all the way around that will bed against the clean beautiful under part of the copper that has to be in there for a long time just the life of the house."

With the linear drain in place, the focus turns to installing the surrounding tile and ensuring a seamless pitch. As Kevin notes, "This is almost always a curbless design so we're going to have to pitch the tile towards the back" – a process that requires careful measurement and planning to achieve the perfect pitch.

**The Tin Men: Masters of Custom Copper Work**

One of the most impressive features of this linear drain system is its use of custom copper work. Our team, led by the Tin Men, has been working tirelessly to create a bespoke solution that meets our specific needs. "Fortunately we have them on speed dial so they can uh come through for us as they always do," Kevin says with a smile.

The Tin Men's expertise in crafting custom copper pans is unmatched, and their ability to adapt to our unique design requirements has been a game-changer in this project. As Kevin explains, "This copper pan is very freshly made" – a testament to the team's commitment to quality and craftsmanship.

**Zoning a House: An Unconventional Approach**

In recent episodes of This Old House, we've explored the concept of zoning a house that's been pulled apart. Today, we're taking it to the next level by experimenting with unconventional zoning strategies. By dividing our space into zones, rather than traditional rooms, we can create a more flexible and functional layout.

One of the most exciting aspects of this approach is its ability to adapt to changing needs and lifestyles. As Kevin explains, "We're going to Zone it unconventionally this side versus that side" – a strategy that allows us to prioritize different areas of the house based on their current usage.

**The Deck: A Rooftop Haven with Solar Panels**

As we continue our journey through this old house, one of the most significant challenges has been incorporating modern technology into a historic space. In this case, we're installing solar panels on our rooftop deck – a bold move that's paid off in terms of energy efficiency.

The rooftop itself is being transformed using innovative materials and techniques. "This new deck is going over the rubber roof and the sleepers with the help of this tool and these clips," Kevin explains, as he carefully secures the deck to the existing structure.

As we install our solar panels, we're also exploring ways to minimize their impact on the surrounding environment. From using eco-friendly materials to designing a sleek and modern system that blends seamlessly into the rooftop landscape, every detail has been considered to ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

**Efficiency and Innovation: The Future of Home Design**

As we continue to push the boundaries of home design, it's essential to prioritize both form and function. Linear drains, zoning systems, and solar panels are just a few examples of innovative solutions that can take our homes from ordinary to extraordinary.

By embracing new technologies and materials, we can create spaces that not only look stunning but also perform with maximum efficiency and effectiveness. As Kevin concludes, "This is the kind of thing that's going to get people excited about home design – it's not just about aesthetics; it's about creating a space that works for you."

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entoday on This Old House we have talked a lot about the crazy roof lines in this building and right now Tommy's outside trying to figure out how to make them watertight we're going to start painting all the CP boards before the installation that's the game planing in custom showers like this this was once the standard now this is the rage hi there I'm Kevin oconor and welcome back to This Old House and to our conquered Cape built back in the 1880s which let's be honest it does not look much like a cape anymore I can remember standing right here about 6 months ago with with our architect Andrew sidford as he sort of talked about this idea of a traditional Cape out front and then a big modern addition off of the back and well there she is with all those intersecting roof lines big walls of glass and a lot of Industry that goes into to making it just this morning we had a concrete truck come in here and the boom went up and over the house brought the pipe the hose right down through that window right there and they started bringing the concrete in to a space that Charlie had prepared for us he sprayed closed cell foam down on the ground you can see remnants of it sort of turning up on the concrete footing right there and then Mark and his guys brought the hose in they worked from the back all the way to the front pumping it in they were pretty much up to their knees in concrete leveled it out screwed it off and you can see right here the guys putting the finishing touches on before they're going to polish that concrete and when it's done the ceiling height down there is going to be over 8 and 1/2 ft we'll have about 1,000 ft of living space and probably in a day or two they'll start framing up the interior partition walls let's check out upstairs so this area right here is going to be a deck outside and I'll tell you what we have got all of the trads here today the framers are still here the plumbers are here the HVAC guides are here and we've even got the electricians hey he Hey Kevin so what stage are you at so we're at the stage where we walk through with the homeowner got an idea of our layout we're going to go ahead and put our boxes up now and then we can start pulling wires all right things are hoening thank you so you've already seen this room before but it is dramatic enough to see it again here are the ceiling lines that match those roof lines you saw from outside and just this week our staircase got put in so we've got steps going down and what's going to be that finished basement and then up to the second floor Charlie I just rattled off a huge list but I'm sure I forgot plenty maybe missed a couple things I actually was just going over my list venting of the bathrooms dry events through the roof you know they're putting the roofing now they got to go around the roof get that done believe it or not we are insulating by the end of next week on the second floor so that means up here we've got to have Heats wires in there wires heating and air conditioning duct work all the plumbing vents have to go through the roof inspections have to be done then my framing inspection just on the second floor and plaster needs to start tile needs to start which means we need heat I don't know if you noticed we're missing one little thing here I did kind of notice because there's a whole bunch of holes I presume the windows are delayed that's right where are they ordered them about 22 weeks ago not going to see them for at least another two so now we got to protect all the openings to keep heating this building for the plaster and Tile Guys to get going all right well this is why you're on the job and this is where things get spor and interesting a lot of fun thank you Charlie we have talked a lot about the crazy roof lines in this building and here's one spot where you can see three of them we've got a steep a medium and a shallow pitched right there and right now Tommy's outside trying to figure out how to make them watertight hey Tommy Hey Kevin Hawai all right so a complicated roof line bunch of different materials I hear in order you might say there a complicated roof line that's for sure I mean we got different pitches and they're all coming down into this one area here uh so I mean you got to keep the roof and the house Dry right so it all it all starts with the under limit now years ago we didn't even use underl then it got to the point where we started using a felt paper like this it's a basically a paper saturated with asphalt and it comes in different weights this is a 15 lb felt but it goes all the way up to 90 lb felt for different materials in different situations okay but today we use a lot of this material right here and this is a basically a self-sealing membrane to protect the building against in our area ice dams but it will also protect the house if get wind blown off shingles the house will still stay dry so I can see the sort of asphalt top right there serves a purpose granules just help those guys not from slipping off or so it's not slippery they make it that it doesn't have any granules and it's very hard to walk on because it's slippery right all right this also is self adhering it aderes itself totally to the roof once you peel this off and you can't get it off but the thing is is it's also a self-sealing membrane so if I take a roof shingle for a roof nail and I puncture it so you can see if the nail comes through how it's pulled all of this sticky stuff the up around the nail sealing it so if water from above from a shingle being blown off or even a ice dam water won't migrate in through this and into to the house so if that's going up there what is the gray that I'm looking at and why the change all right because this is basically for high temperature roof so if for example you would have put a metal roof on here it would get a lot hotter than an asphalt jingle be and so what you want is you want to make sure that you use this when you stick it to the rubber roof all right because this material right here melts at a lower temperature and it will run down and stain this roof okay so high temp just where we sort of meet the two where you need it you need it in this area here where you have the transition from one to the other if you look up there in the valley cuz if there's metal flashing there you don't want it to you don't want to soften this stuff to make it weak and it fail now you see Kevin we covered this entire roof with this self-sealing membrane all the way up to the ridge around the chimneys everywhere and we've been using this stuff in the very beginning a lot of guys don't there's other materials that you could use let's say you go up 6 ft then you can go to a a different underway it that cost a little bit less but we've always looked at it is do it right the first time spend a little more money up front to protect that building in the long run it's going to be cheaper if you have damage to water in the house to get that got all right Tommy thank you appreciate it my pleasure hey guys what's up Kevin look at this white oak rustic uh uh beam Charlie you left one thing off your list yeah just left one thing that's it a big thing so what is the deal with this yeah we got a beautiful piece of white oak to work with uh we're designing the new fireplace mantle in the kitchen okay so uh a little sketch here is this yeah this is the uh the idea rustic mantle over the brick fireplace we've been saving this for years at the shop looking for the perfect place to use a old white oak post nice the silvers never throw away old beams uh and what's the idea behind the white oak Megan what are you thinking we have a lot of white oak accents throughout the kitchen so we thought this would be a nice tie-in all right so uh sizing decision time what are we thinking yeah this is 8 by10 and uh four faces that I guess you got to think about Megan right yeah different levels of distress even some repairs it looks like yeah those are kind of fun though all right so how are we figuring out what the final size is going to be cuz this is is a monster made up a couple of templates sample size go from there okay sounds good expect nothing less from you Mark you mind if to throw you out for a sec all right let me get out of your way Charlie's got some and here's the uh first one which really represents the piece that we have so it's about 8 by 10 so we've got the 10 on this face eight here yes Megan what do you think when you see that uh Height's great but it feels pretty large for this space here too beefy a little too beefy yeah all right we have another option always prepared Charlie not surprised and this one here is really a six on the face and eight on the top eight across here six down Megan your thoughts on that I I love it yeah that's much much better proportion for the ceiling height and the fireplace I like this a lot we got to cut your beam down yeah we have a winner all right and Mark I saw you knocking some brick earlier have you been tasked with something I have so anytime we're lucky enough to find a piece of wood like that white oak we want to make sure we accentuate it so I do have a couple problems with the brick work that I want to change which are well you can see that there are different characteristics in this brick we're going to stain this brick so everything is going to be transparent it's going to come through so as you can see I have the same characteristics the color is basically the same but one of the other things I want to do is match this stack Bond right here and the way I'm going to do that is as the brick come up like that I'm going to bring what we call a soldier course so the brick is going to stand vertical and I'm going to bring that all the way across this masonry opening just like this these two existing courses are coming out exactly are you ready to start demo while we cut this beam down yeah I'm going to start demo right now very nice all right Megan it's decision time all right this is a really pretty section here I was going to ask you how you're going to cut it Charlie but you brought the world's biggest off all right so now we just got to rip it along this line Y Charlie that saw is a beast I love it all right this will be Final Cut put a good bead of adhesive on there but don't go too close to the top all right here's our backer piece all set we're ready to put it in place all right got a brace for the middle here all right now I just got to center it back to cabin a little bit under an eigh how's that perfect do you like yep let me just ATT this ah Megan just in time what do you think this this is looking fabulous it looks great wow you make quick work yeah we're going to get some board and plaster over it moral will touch it up be beautiful and then Mark you still have a soldier course to do down here right all I got to do is run my Soldier course I'll tie it in we'll be good to go it's all yours all right look great guys hey he hey Richard when we did our first inspection here we found a 30-year-old cast iron boiler in reasonable condition and we said you know maybe we'll leave it you know but we've had Mission creep since we've sort of looked at it we're going to tie on to some of the old cast iron baseboard but we're going to add radiant radiant for tile another indirect heater so there's going to be a lot of changes so it also invites the idea that maybe this is the time so we're ready to go time to go all right so with the jacket off you can see the bones of this thing so here is the burners right here and they sit under these cast iron sections now there's a series of cast iron sections 1 2 3 four five six 7 they're held together by push rods right here and this steel piece is a pipe in between here there's a flu collector on the top so if I pull that you can see that the burners let the flu gas come up through these cast IR sections there's these pins so the Gap is this wide the flu products come up here collects in the flu collector and out through the chimney now on the water side that's the fire side on the water side return water comes back through here passes through each of the bottom side of these sections pushes up through into to this common header right here and then comes back out heated to the building okay now compare that with the new heat exchange that we're going to use the Gap is only this much versus this much and so it's a power burner a burner that has force and push to push the flu products through here and so what happens is by the time it passes this narrow bit the flu gas might go from 600 to 150 by squeezing it through those narrow gas gaps so big difference in efficiency all right boys this can go away now the new boiler is actually going to go onto a wall just careful the pipes yep okay so that's not necessarily where it's going to be but it's going to be wall hung somewhere can we just uh pull the cover so now that heat exchanger I was talking about is sitting right up in here just inside this cover and there's a really efficient burner and that'll modulate all the time now the flu products are so low temperature that you can't really go into a chimney because there's nothing but a little bit of temperature and too much moisture so it could rot the chimney away so you can either vent it directly to outside you know you find your way to use straight pipe and go outside but whenever possible I'd love to to see us go up and away using stuff like this as a polypropylen liner you actually can fish this into the existing chimney using the chimney not as a flu connector but just as a Chase to get this up and away thanks a you're welcome Maro so I hear you are painting the outside of our house in the house we are um Charlie and I we went over with this weather it's getting cold and we get a plane uh we decided to paint all priming paint all the clapboards before installation so primer and finish coat of paint in here yes and then once it's all done outside we'll go back out there and we'll be looking to do some touchups so yesterday you guys primed everything yesterday I came here with my guys we put a quat of oilbased primer on it it's dry and it's ready to paint all right so we've got the paint gun out you're going to spray these we got the paint here uh homeowner designer chose this nice blue color it's a historical color historic blue huh exactly so we're going to be priming the machine and we'll be ready to rock and roll let's rock and roll all right well before we start with the spraying cabin I'm going to get my respirator my goggles on and then we're going to spray all the four sides first and we're going to do like individual boards I'll I'll paint the top of it two of my guys we'll remove them and put it in a dried braack right there so that is moving right along Maro now we've actually seen you do this before right I mean this is not new to you and you you often don't have this much space right AB not this was a plus and I would take advantage of it all right well looks like you got a handle on it thank you marrow get it thank you Kevin places hopping Richard every single trade on top of each other this is hyperdrive time for us everybody's trying to get their stuff in the wall you got HV AC guys you got electricians the plumbers all trying to get it into their space how about this space huh so this is pretty cool this is the whole bedroom suite right here bed will be out here looking out at the meadow everything's oriented to this beautiful backyard uh nice big shower and bathroom area here it starts with a soaking tub sitting right here be able to look out the window couple of lavatories nice light coming over your shoulder right here with a couple of mirrors right here toilets tucked in here mhm that's really ni this is pretty interesting industry here where it goes inside the wall to allow you to hang that toilet up off the ground nice and hygienic I love these things this is the tank that stays right inside the wall requires some serious infrastructure do historically a custom tile shower always had one of these a shower strainer normally in the center of the shower and you would pitch the tile towards the center and there's almost always a curb that made the water fall back in but instead of having a centered drain it's going to have one of these a linear drain so the water will work from the tile and go down into this groove here and go down through a drain right here so this will go to you so I want you to take that right there and that'll go to the very back and now the tile will come here but this entire Place space will be filled with mud and allow us to tile and pitch that right towards the back so this is now flush which means we don't have the curb that's right Cur it can be wet out here and it can just work its way back towards the drain so if this was typical okay how much more complicated it is to put the linear drain in versus something like this it is a little more complicated a little more complex uh and a little more expensive but overall in a shower like this a curbless especially it it's just a great um application so I start with our basic drain body cut the hole in the floor this sits flush to the floor it comes with a nipple that adjusts to the depth of the mud bed for the tile oh yeah so that nipple that I'm seeing there looks exactly like the nipple I'm seeing here it just doesn't have this top it actually fits into that so you can adjust it up and down exactly and that threaded stainless can be adjusted to get this thing exactly up to the level for the tile to be perfect so is this ready to go in we're almost there so we're ready for the copper pan if you want to grab it for me grab it so this is a custommade copper pan very freshly made our friends the Tin Men helping us out again fortunately we have them on speed dial so they can uh come through for us as they always do not a lot of guys making these things anymore Abe well you want to set this in let's see how it fits okay somebody gave the right measurements you always trust on those guys at the tin sh so he's transferring the bolt location by making an impress ress with those bolts with his hammer so there's faint Impressions there but he'll just Trace to transfer his hole ready to cut ready to cut so the hole's cut we're ready to put it in place let me get the drain in put some silicone on the top we can uh set her in for good so the key to this seal is actually a silicone ring all the way way around that will bed against the clean beautiful under part of the copper that has to be in there for a long time just the life of the house okay coming in oh don't kick it so the four lock screws are ready so he Keys it slightly and then just tighten them down equally and just squeeze that silicone so that silicone bead will make a really good seal against the really clean part of the underside of the copper there all right all right so with that threaded piece back in here at the very end we'll have a trough like this we'll cut the right width the linear drain will drop in right here why you set that right on top bab and the final height of the drain that's set by the tile guy right that's a function how thick they make that mud to have the tile pitch perfectly I don't know that's going to look pretty good thank you Abe great job thank you all right well still a ton to do and we got everyone working on it right I mean in my world we still have all the hbac we got ventilation we got some radiant to do a lot to do insulation and we're still waiting on Windows all right well so until next time I'm Kevin oconor I'm richy for This Old House here in conquered Mass T gu can come soon too I that thing's huge I love that next time on This Old House how do we Zone a house that we've pulled apart I'll show you and you don't want to install any sofits for the duck work you want to keep this all open right so we're going to Zone it unconventionally this side versus that side this new deck is going over the rubber roof and the sleepers with the help of this tool and these clips and it's up on the rooftop with solar panels and in terms of efficiency when you go to all black I don't know does it help or hurt the efficiency and what efficiency are we at these days atoday on This Old House we have talked a lot about the crazy roof lines in this building and right now Tommy's outside trying to figure out how to make them watertight we're going to start painting all the CP boards before the installation that's the game planing in custom showers like this this was once the standard now this is the rage hi there I'm Kevin oconor and welcome back to This Old House and to our conquered Cape built back in the 1880s which let's be honest it does not look much like a cape anymore I can remember standing right here about 6 months ago with with our architect Andrew sidford as he sort of talked about this idea of a traditional Cape out front and then a big modern addition off of the back and well there she is with all those intersecting roof lines big walls of glass and a lot of Industry that goes into to making it just this morning we had a concrete truck come in here and the boom went up and over the house brought the pipe the hose right down through that window right there and they started bringing the concrete in to a space that Charlie had prepared for us he sprayed closed cell foam down on the ground you can see remnants of it sort of turning up on the concrete footing right there and then Mark and his guys brought the hose in they worked from the back all the way to the front pumping it in they were pretty much up to their knees in concrete leveled it out screwed it off and you can see right here the guys putting the finishing touches on before they're going to polish that concrete and when it's done the ceiling height down there is going to be over 8 and 1/2 ft we'll have about 1,000 ft of living space and probably in a day or two they'll start framing up the interior partition walls let's check out upstairs so this area right here is going to be a deck outside and I'll tell you what we have got all of the trads here today the framers are still here the plumbers are here the HVAC guides are here and we've even got the electricians hey he Hey Kevin so what stage are you at so we're at the stage where we walk through with the homeowner got an idea of our layout we're going to go ahead and put our boxes up now and then we can start pulling wires all right things are hoening thank you so you've already seen this room before but it is dramatic enough to see it again here are the ceiling lines that match those roof lines you saw from outside and just this week our staircase got put in so we've got steps going down and what's going to be that finished basement and then up to the second floor Charlie I just rattled off a huge list but I'm sure I forgot plenty maybe missed a couple things I actually was just going over my list venting of the bathrooms dry events through the roof you know they're putting the roofing now they got to go around the roof get that done believe it or not we are insulating by the end of next week on the second floor so that means up here we've got to have Heats wires in there wires heating and air conditioning duct work all the plumbing vents have to go through the roof inspections have to be done then my framing inspection just on the second floor and plaster needs to start tile needs to start which means we need heat I don't know if you noticed we're missing one little thing here I did kind of notice because there's a whole bunch of holes I presume the windows are delayed that's right where are they ordered them about 22 weeks ago not going to see them for at least another two so now we got to protect all the openings to keep heating this building for the plaster and Tile Guys to get going all right well this is why you're on the job and this is where things get spor and interesting a lot of fun thank you Charlie we have talked a lot about the crazy roof lines in this building and here's one spot where you can see three of them we've got a steep a medium and a shallow pitched right there and right now Tommy's outside trying to figure out how to make them watertight hey Tommy Hey Kevin Hawai all right so a complicated roof line bunch of different materials I hear in order you might say there a complicated roof line that's for sure I mean we got different pitches and they're all coming down into this one area here uh so I mean you got to keep the roof and the house Dry right so it all it all starts with the under limit now years ago we didn't even use underl then it got to the point where we started using a felt paper like this it's a basically a paper saturated with asphalt and it comes in different weights this is a 15 lb felt but it goes all the way up to 90 lb felt for different materials in different situations okay but today we use a lot of this material right here and this is a basically a self-sealing membrane to protect the building against in our area ice dams but it will also protect the house if get wind blown off shingles the house will still stay dry so I can see the sort of asphalt top right there serves a purpose granules just help those guys not from slipping off or so it's not slippery they make it that it doesn't have any granules and it's very hard to walk on because it's slippery right all right this also is self adhering it aderes itself totally to the roof once you peel this off and you can't get it off but the thing is is it's also a self-sealing membrane so if I take a roof shingle for a roof nail and I puncture it so you can see if the nail comes through how it's pulled all of this sticky stuff the up around the nail sealing it so if water from above from a shingle being blown off or even a ice dam water won't migrate in through this and into to the house so if that's going up there what is the gray that I'm looking at and why the change all right because this is basically for high temperature roof so if for example you would have put a metal roof on here it would get a lot hotter than an asphalt jingle be and so what you want is you want to make sure that you use this when you stick it to the rubber roof all right because this material right here melts at a lower temperature and it will run down and stain this roof okay so high temp just where we sort of meet the two where you need it you need it in this area here where you have the transition from one to the other if you look up there in the valley cuz if there's metal flashing there you don't want it to you don't want to soften this stuff to make it weak and it fail now you see Kevin we covered this entire roof with this self-sealing membrane all the way up to the ridge around the chimneys everywhere and we've been using this stuff in the very beginning a lot of guys don't there's other materials that you could use let's say you go up 6 ft then you can go to a a different underway it that cost a little bit less but we've always looked at it is do it right the first time spend a little more money up front to protect that building in the long run it's going to be cheaper if you have damage to water in the house to get that got all right Tommy thank you appreciate it my pleasure hey guys what's up Kevin look at this white oak rustic uh uh beam Charlie you left one thing off your list yeah just left one thing that's it a big thing so what is the deal with this yeah we got a beautiful piece of white oak to work with uh we're designing the new fireplace mantle in the kitchen okay so uh a little sketch here is this yeah this is the uh the idea rustic mantle over the brick fireplace we've been saving this for years at the shop looking for the perfect place to use a old white oak post nice the silvers never throw away old beams uh and what's the idea behind the white oak Megan what are you thinking we have a lot of white oak accents throughout the kitchen so we thought this would be a nice tie-in all right so uh sizing decision time what are we thinking yeah this is 8 by10 and uh four faces that I guess you got to think about Megan right yeah different levels of distress even some repairs it looks like yeah those are kind of fun though all right so how are we figuring out what the final size is going to be cuz this is is a monster made up a couple of templates sample size go from there okay sounds good expect nothing less from you Mark you mind if to throw you out for a sec all right let me get out of your way Charlie's got some and here's the uh first one which really represents the piece that we have so it's about 8 by 10 so we've got the 10 on this face eight here yes Megan what do you think when you see that uh Height's great but it feels pretty large for this space here too beefy a little too beefy yeah all right we have another option always prepared Charlie not surprised and this one here is really a six on the face and eight on the top eight across here six down Megan your thoughts on that I I love it yeah that's much much better proportion for the ceiling height and the fireplace I like this a lot we got to cut your beam down yeah we have a winner all right and Mark I saw you knocking some brick earlier have you been tasked with something I have so anytime we're lucky enough to find a piece of wood like that white oak we want to make sure we accentuate it so I do have a couple problems with the brick work that I want to change which are well you can see that there are different characteristics in this brick we're going to stain this brick so everything is going to be transparent it's going to come through so as you can see I have the same characteristics the color is basically the same but one of the other things I want to do is match this stack Bond right here and the way I'm going to do that is as the brick come up like that I'm going to bring what we call a soldier course so the brick is going to stand vertical and I'm going to bring that all the way across this masonry opening just like this these two existing courses are coming out exactly are you ready to start demo while we cut this beam down yeah I'm going to start demo right now very nice all right Megan it's decision time all right this is a really pretty section here I was going to ask you how you're going to cut it Charlie but you brought the world's biggest off all right so now we just got to rip it along this line Y Charlie that saw is a beast I love it all right this will be Final Cut put a good bead of adhesive on there but don't go too close to the top all right here's our backer piece all set we're ready to put it in place all right got a brace for the middle here all right now I just got to center it back to cabin a little bit under an eigh how's that perfect do you like yep let me just ATT this ah Megan just in time what do you think this this is looking fabulous it looks great wow you make quick work yeah we're going to get some board and plaster over it moral will touch it up be beautiful and then Mark you still have a soldier course to do down here right all I got to do is run my Soldier course I'll tie it in we'll be good to go it's all yours all right look great guys hey he hey Richard when we did our first inspection here we found a 30-year-old cast iron boiler in reasonable condition and we said you know maybe we'll leave it you know but we've had Mission creep since we've sort of looked at it we're going to tie on to some of the old cast iron baseboard but we're going to add radiant radiant for tile another indirect heater so there's going to be a lot of changes so it also invites the idea that maybe this is the time so we're ready to go time to go all right so with the jacket off you can see the bones of this thing so here is the burners right here and they sit under these cast iron sections now there's a series of cast iron sections 1 2 3 four five six 7 they're held together by push rods right here and this steel piece is a pipe in between here there's a flu collector on the top so if I pull that you can see that the burners let the flu gas come up through these cast IR sections there's these pins so the Gap is this wide the flu products come up here collects in the flu collector and out through the chimney now on the water side that's the fire side on the water side return water comes back through here passes through each of the bottom side of these sections pushes up through into to this common header right here and then comes back out heated to the building okay now compare that with the new heat exchange that we're going to use the Gap is only this much versus this much and so it's a power burner a burner that has force and push to push the flu products through here and so what happens is by the time it passes this narrow bit the flu gas might go from 600 to 150 by squeezing it through those narrow gas gaps so big difference in efficiency all right boys this can go away now the new boiler is actually going to go onto a wall just careful the pipes yep okay so that's not necessarily where it's going to be but it's going to be wall hung somewhere can we just uh pull the cover so now that heat exchanger I was talking about is sitting right up in here just inside this cover and there's a really efficient burner and that'll modulate all the time now the flu products are so low temperature that you can't really go into a chimney because there's nothing but a little bit of temperature and too much moisture so it could rot the chimney away so you can either vent it directly to outside you know you find your way to use straight pipe and go outside but whenever possible I'd love to to see us go up and away using stuff like this as a polypropylen liner you actually can fish this into the existing chimney using the chimney not as a flu connector but just as a Chase to get this up and away thanks a you're welcome Maro so I hear you are painting the outside of our house in the house we are um Charlie and I we went over with this weather it's getting cold and we get a plane uh we decided to paint all priming paint all the clapboards before installation so primer and finish coat of paint in here yes and then once it's all done outside we'll go back out there and we'll be looking to do some touchups so yesterday you guys primed everything yesterday I came here with my guys we put a quat of oilbased primer on it it's dry and it's ready to paint all right so we've got the paint gun out you're going to spray these we got the paint here uh homeowner designer chose this nice blue color it's a historical color historic blue huh exactly so we're going to be priming the machine and we'll be ready to rock and roll let's rock and roll all right well before we start with the spraying cabin I'm going to get my respirator my goggles on and then we're going to spray all the four sides first and we're going to do like individual boards I'll I'll paint the top of it two of my guys we'll remove them and put it in a dried braack right there so that is moving right along Maro now we've actually seen you do this before right I mean this is not new to you and you you often don't have this much space right AB not this was a plus and I would take advantage of it all right well looks like you got a handle on it thank you marrow get it thank you Kevin places hopping Richard every single trade on top of each other this is hyperdrive time for us everybody's trying to get their stuff in the wall you got HV AC guys you got electricians the plumbers all trying to get it into their space how about this space huh so this is pretty cool this is the whole bedroom suite right here bed will be out here looking out at the meadow everything's oriented to this beautiful backyard uh nice big shower and bathroom area here it starts with a soaking tub sitting right here be able to look out the window couple of lavatories nice light coming over your shoulder right here with a couple of mirrors right here toilets tucked in here mhm that's really ni this is pretty interesting industry here where it goes inside the wall to allow you to hang that toilet up off the ground nice and hygienic I love these things this is the tank that stays right inside the wall requires some serious infrastructure do historically a custom tile shower always had one of these a shower strainer normally in the center of the shower and you would pitch the tile towards the center and there's almost always a curb that made the water fall back in but instead of having a centered drain it's going to have one of these a linear drain so the water will work from the tile and go down into this groove here and go down through a drain right here so this will go to you so I want you to take that right there and that'll go to the very back and now the tile will come here but this entire Place space will be filled with mud and allow us to tile and pitch that right towards the back so this is now flush which means we don't have the curb that's right Cur it can be wet out here and it can just work its way back towards the drain so if this was typical okay how much more complicated it is to put the linear drain in versus something like this it is a little more complicated a little more complex uh and a little more expensive but overall in a shower like this a curbless especially it it's just a great um application so I start with our basic drain body cut the hole in the floor this sits flush to the floor it comes with a nipple that adjusts to the depth of the mud bed for the tile oh yeah so that nipple that I'm seeing there looks exactly like the nipple I'm seeing here it just doesn't have this top it actually fits into that so you can adjust it up and down exactly and that threaded stainless can be adjusted to get this thing exactly up to the level for the tile to be perfect so is this ready to go in we're almost there so we're ready for the copper pan if you want to grab it for me grab it so this is a custommade copper pan very freshly made our friends the Tin Men helping us out again fortunately we have them on speed dial so they can uh come through for us as they always do not a lot of guys making these things anymore Abe well you want to set this in let's see how it fits okay somebody gave the right measurements you always trust on those guys at the tin sh so he's transferring the bolt location by making an impress ress with those bolts with his hammer so there's faint Impressions there but he'll just Trace to transfer his hole ready to cut ready to cut so the hole's cut we're ready to put it in place let me get the drain in put some silicone on the top we can uh set her in for good so the key to this seal is actually a silicone ring all the way way around that will bed against the clean beautiful under part of the copper that has to be in there for a long time just the life of the house okay coming in oh don't kick it so the four lock screws are ready so he Keys it slightly and then just tighten them down equally and just squeeze that silicone so that silicone bead will make a really good seal against the really clean part of the underside of the copper there all right all right so with that threaded piece back in here at the very end we'll have a trough like this we'll cut the right width the linear drain will drop in right here why you set that right on top bab and the final height of the drain that's set by the tile guy right that's a function how thick they make that mud to have the tile pitch perfectly I don't know that's going to look pretty good thank you Abe great job thank you all right well still a ton to do and we got everyone working on it right I mean in my world we still have all the hbac we got ventilation we got some radiant to do a lot to do insulation and we're still waiting on Windows all right well so until next time I'm Kevin oconor I'm richy for This Old House here in conquered Mass T gu can come soon too I that thing's huge I love that next time on This Old House how do we Zone a house that we've pulled apart I'll show you and you don't want to install any sofits for the duck work you want to keep this all open right so we're going to Zone it unconventionally this side versus that side this new deck is going over the rubber roof and the sleepers with the help of this tool and these clips and it's up on the rooftop with solar panels and in terms of efficiency when you go to all black I don't know does it help or hurt the efficiency and what efficiency are we at these days a\n"