This Old House

[bdarnell]

Anybody else see the episode of TOH today on PBS? There was a good segment on lighting control systems for residences.

Good stuff.

 

[electricmanscott]

Re: This Old House

I'm going to watch it in a little while. Too bad they don't give you a "behind the scenes" tour of some of the electrical work. Code? What code?

 

[bdarnell]

Re: This Old House

Yeah, and you're right up there where they film all of that, Scott. Ever meet Bob Vila ?

 

[celtic]

Re: This Old House

Originally posted by bdarnell:
Ever meet Bob Vila ?

Honestly...I don't think I'd want to....did you ever notice how some of the contractors look at him like he has seven heads?

I stopped watching TOH when I noticed he seemed to have the ability to PO a contractor in every episode...LMAO.

 

[tom baker]

Re: This Old House

I liked Steve Thomas, but the new host Kevin is very personable.
They had a 20th anniversary edition of the magazine, the plumber Richard is quite the piano player.
Tommy loves to sail. I am really impressed with Tommy, he is a very experienced carpenter, lots of remodeling tricks.

 

[electricmanscott]

Re: This Old House

I watch the show every week. I have seen every episode since it started airing in 1979 when I was 9 years old. My father took me to see that first house they were remodeling in Dorchester MA and I was hooked. They let us walk through the house. I would have to honestly say that show is largely responsible for me being in the construction industry.

I now watch with my 5 and 9 year old boys. They absolutely love it.

Steve Thomas was a good host but...I was friends with some guys that were on the show doing electrical work and they say he is a complete turd and not afraid to show it.

Never met Bob V but...my sister worked with his vet and she says he was a real turd as well. Always paying in cash and making sure everyone saw his big stack o' money.

I have run into Richard and he seems as genuine in person as he does on tv.

I have also met Tommy a few times and the same goes for him. Although he still has not hired me for any work.

As for Norm, I know a guy that wired Norm's house and according to him he is a nice guy that is down to earth and hasn't forgotten that at the end of the day he is a hard working carpenter. "Hollywood" (or PBS) hasn't spoiled him.

Now as for the electrical work, I have been in two recent projects wired by their electrical contractor and was less than impressed. One was a TOH project and the other a person who called me to do some work just two weeks ago. The one blatant violation that just boggled my mind because it was so visible were the couple dozen romexs run across the joists in unfinished basement area. A couple of which had pulled out from the staples and had things hanging from them. The reason NOT to run the wires that way. Very hacky.

The latest project in Cambridge really looked awesome. The owner must have spent a good million renovating that house. Considering where it is located he could probably make that and quite a bit more back if he sold it today.

All just my opinions of course.

 

[bdarnell]

Re: This Old House

I wonder if the subs get paid the same for doing one of these jobs, or if they do it for the "exposure". I know Tom Silva and Rich Trethewey seem to be on just about every episode, but you hardly ever see the electrical contractor.

 

[iwire]

Re: This Old House

My friends wife was Norm's barber for many years before he 'made it' and for some time after. She always said Norm was a nice guy.

About 20 years ago I worked on a job with Dick T. wiring one of his cutting edge (at the time) heating set ups.

It was about 12 or 15 small gas fired boilers being used to supply both heat and hot water for a 30 unit apartment building.

He had a controller he purchased in Europe and had me adapt it to control the furnaces in stages based on demand and outside air temp. He knew everything he wanted in his head. He was both knowlegable and easy going.