This Old House — Season 11

Jan 1989

This Old House returns for its eleventh season with our master carpenter, who introduces the series' new host. The guys survey the project: an 1835 barn in Concord, Massachusetts, and talk to the homeowners, Lynn and Barbara, who want to dismantle and rebuild the barn and live in it.

Jan 1989

The guys send homeowners Lynn and Barbara to Nantucket, while they visit a bar that has been remodeled into a home, and take a look at a timber-frame house designed by Jock Gifford. In Concord, the farm's old gas tank is removed.

Jan 1989

Timber-frame expert Tedd Benson and the crew dismantle the barn. Homeowners Barbara and Lynn meet with designer Jock Gifford to plan their new home, and visit a nearby carriage house that had been converted to a residence.

Feb 1989

Down the hill from the building site in Concord, well-driller Dave Haynes prepares to fill a well. The guys work on the foundation, and a septic tank is installed.

Feb 1989

We travel to Brattleboro, Vermont to take a look at a factory where stress-skin panels are made. After openings for doors and windows are cut, these panels will be applied to the barn's post-and-beam frame. In his Alstead, New Hampsire, workshop, timber-framer Tedd Benson shows us how traditional post-and-beam buildings are designed using computer-aided-design technology.

Feb 1989

At the Concord site, Tedd Benson and other members of the Timber Framers Guild of North America lead a workshop where students learn how to measure, cut and join timbers for the barn's post-and-beam frame. We then go to Wiscassett, Maine, to visit a sawmill and watch as a tree is transformed into timbers ready for use in the barn's frame.

Mar 1989

The barn's massive frame is put up by hand at an old-fashioned barn-raising, and topped off with a tree for good fortune.

Mar 1989

Stress-skin panels are installed over the barn's finished frame, and work on the well is completed.

Mar 1989

Custom-made windows are installed in the Concord barn, and deluxe sklights are that feature one-step installation bring light into the great space and bedrooms. The crew hangs clapboards that the homeowners have stained on both sides, and landscape architect Tom Wirth discusses landscaping possibilities.

Apr 1989

A concrete slab is poured in the basement. The crew reviews the progress on the barn renovation.

Apr 1989

The well is connected to the house, and our host discusses the barn's new plumbing system with Richard Trethewey. Mason Roger Hopkins builds a stone wall on the barn's fromt exposure.

Apr 1989

Tom Wirh reviews the progress of the landscaping work. Barbara visits a kitchen design center.

May 1989

Richard Trethewey explains the barn's new heating system. Drywalling begins, and an air-exchanger is installed, and landscaping work continues.

May 1989

Richard Trethewey takes viewers on a tour of a boiler factory in Battenberg, West Germany, where parts of the barn's high-tech heating system were manufactured.

May 1989

A custom stairway is installed in the Concord barn, an we visit Neenah, Wisconsin, to see how the structure was manufactured.

Jun 1989

Our host takes a side trip to a futuristic show house in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where plastic is used in novel ways. After Richard Trethewey shows how plastic piping has been laid for the barn's radiant heating system, lightweight concrete is poured on the first floor.

Jun 1989

Terra-cotta tiling begins. The crew cases and frames the doors the doors and windows. We then visit a plant in Western Massachusetts where shingles and other asphalt products are recycled to make paving material that will be used on the driveway of the Concord barn.

Jun 1989

Tiling continues in the in the guest bathroom, while lighting fixtures are installed along the beams in the great space. At the workshop, the guys build library doors.

Jul 1989

The barn nears completion as wide pine flooring is laid and the kitchen appliances are installed. Richard Trethewey shows us a West German Plumbing fixture factory.

Jul 1989

The project draws to a close as Jean Lemmon, editor-in-chief of Country Home magazine, tours the finished barn.

Jul 1989

The show travels to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for its newest project: the renovation of a traditional Southwestern adobe home. The homeowners - both artists - shows us around their four-room home. Our host confers with local architect John Midyette and tours a new house in Santa Fe.

Aug 1989

Sharon Woods, co-author of Santa Fe Style, takes viewers on a tour of some notable local houses. At the site, adobe walls are laid and vigas (roof rafters) are set.

Aug 1989

Traditional kiva (beehive) fireplaces are constructed. Windows and doors are installed.

Aug 1989

Richard Trethewey supervises installation of an in-floor radiant heating system, small wall-mounted air conditioners and plumbing fixtures. Our master carpenter begins work on his custom-built kitchen cabinets.

Sept 1989

We visit the Ashfork, Arizona, yard that is suppling the flagstone flooring for the kitchen and library. Back in Santa Fe, the flagstone is laid; saltillo tiling commences; and the kitchen cabinets are installed.

Sept 1989

Marble countertops are installed in the kitchen, and we visit the marble finishing yard in Juarez, Mexico, where they were made. We get a tour of the finished adobe home and bid hasta lugeo to Santa Fe.