Kevin: The first phase of demolition began 11 months ago on our 1887 Victorian in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and soon led to the discovery of extensive damage that required rebuilding nearly all of the interior.

Today, we hand the keys back to our homeowners.

♪♪ ♪♪ Man: Ahh.

That's it.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Train whistle blows ] ♪♪ Kevin: Hey, there.

I'm Kevin O'Connor, and welcome back to "This Old House" and to Glen Ridge, New Jersey.

Where today, we are wrapping up our project.

Just got to pick up the rest of the crew here at the train station.

Hey, Richard.

Richard: How are you?

Tom: Hey, Kevin.

Kevin: Tom, how are you?

Hey, Jenn.

Jenn: Hey.

Kevin: Now, listen, I know I've said it before, but I'm gonna say it again.

I love this town.

Tom: Well, that's because you're from here, sonny.

Kevin: Hey, Jersey Strong.

Jenn: I love it, too.

I love the streets are so clean, all the old growth trees.

And I really enjoyed my visit to Freeman Gardens and the connection to our project house.

Richard: This community has got all these gas lights on the sidewalks at night.

It's really special, really terrific.

And you get a view of the Manhattan skyline, including the Empire State Building.

Kevin: Ah, the Empire State Building.

That was Tommy's great uncle three times removed who worked on it, Uncle Petey.

Tom: Uncle Petey.

It's Uncle Manuel.

Richard: Manny.

Manny they called him.

Tom: Not even close.

Kevin: One Silva is the same as the other Silva.

But listen.

I'm impressed.

Not only did he work on the project, but they brought it in on time and on budget.

Tom: Yeah.

On budget is for sure.

And also 12 days early, I might add.

Kevin: Ah, well, expect nothing less from a Silva.

Jenn: Speaking of on time and on budget, how did our builder do?

Tom: Well, I tell you, I think Zack did a great job.

His attention to detail is amazing.

And I love the fact that he kept the job really neat along the whole process.

Kevin: High praise.

Richard: And in the mechanical world, he brought everything together as a system, which is terrific.

Kevin: Yeah.

Jenn: Yeah, managing all the subs and all the change orders, very impressive.

Kevin: Speaking of change orders, we had a big one early on, Tommy, unexpected.

Tom: A big surprise.

During the demo, they discovered that all of the joists, the main beams on the first floor and some of the second floor were eaten by termites.

So that all had to get reframed, restructured.

Richard: Good thing we came.

Tom: Yeah.

Jenn: Well, I'm happy they didn't disturb all the established trees on-site when they were trenching for the sewer lines.

Richard: Always protecting those trees.

Jenn: Someone's got to, Richard.

Kevin: Sounds like everybody is duly impressed with Zack.

What do you say we check out his handiwork and have a look at the house?

Tom: Okay.

Sounds good.

Jenn: Let's do it.

Richard: Wow.

Kevin: Oh, yeah.

Tom: Yeah.

Richard: Alright, we'll catch you guys later.

Kevin: Okay.

Wow.

I like what I see, Tommy.

Tom: I like what I see, too.

I like the gutters, the downspout size.

And I really like the lattice detail with the square pattern.

Kevin: Yeah.

Hey, there he is.

Zack, alright.

Zack: How's it going?

Kevin: Going alright.

How are you doing?

How are you feeling?

Zack: Pretty happy.

Tom: You should be.

Kevin: Should be.

The porch just jumps out at you.

Love the details, the brackets which you brought back, right?

Zack: Yeah, the brackets were from that historic photograph, and it really adds a lot of nice detail to this front porch.

Kevin: I think it does.

Tom: Yeah.

I like the fact that you've changed that railing detail with the post that was bent and broaded to a baluster.

And I also like the fact that you kept the railing height low, which is more historic.

Zack: Yeah, I mean, that was a collaboration with the historic society and the architect.

They did a great job.

Tom: Yeah.

Perfect.

Kevin: Sticking with a lot of the original details.

Although the diamond pattern on the gable end, not original, but I got to say, it looks really good.

Zack: Yeah, we were surprised when we didn't uncover it, but honestly, it looks way better with the diamond, so we decided to leave that detail on.

Tom: I was surprised that it wasn't diamond under there also.

Kevin: Looks great.

You should feel good about everything, Zach.

It's absolutely terrific.

Zack: Oh, thanks a lot.

Kevin: Hey.

There are the homeowners.

Hopefully they're happy as well.

Sunita, Shankar, how are you guys?

Shankar: Very well.

Thank you.

Kevin: Exciting day for you.

How do you guys feel?

Sunita: It's amazing.

Really love the work.

It's just incredible.

Kevin: Well, compliments to Zack on that one.

Zack: Now, we had amazing homeowners to work with.

Kevin: But, you know, we'd love a tour.

We'd love to see the inside.

Sunita: I'll take you in for the first floor.

Kevin: Terrific.

Shankar: And then I'll wait for you on the third floor.

Kevin: Sounds like a plan.

Tom: Sounds good.

Zack: Let me show you this window, Tom.

Tom: Alright.

Kevin: Let's see what we got.

The old door refurbished.

Look what you did to this, pop of color, high gloss, and you restored the hardware, right?

Sunita: Yep.

That was the original door knocker and the original doorknob.

Kevin: Love it, great way to enter the house.

Look at your new entryway, Sunita.

Sunita: So, you remember when you first entered the house, the staircase was like the C-shaped staircase.

When we had to take the first and the second floor out because of the termite damage, our architect came back with a beautiful open staircase, which is so welcoming.

Kevin: Views to the second, hints of the third.

I love the paneling.

Sunita: Oh, yes, Zack did a beautiful job on the paneling.

Kevin: Soaring is the word, too, right?

You get volume in this space.

Sunita: Yeah.

That was so -- And then you remember over here, we had a fireplace.

Kevin: Oh, yeah.

Sunita: You remember?

And we didn't have a closet.

Kevin: No, you didn't.

Sunita: So now we have a closet in this space, so you can hang up your coat.

Very welcoming to anyone who comes in.

They feel like they're part of our home.

Kevin: Don't mind if I do.

Alright.

Sunita: And then over here what you see is this beautiful arched entry going down to the basement.

Kevin: Mm-hmm.

Sunita: And it just has some beautiful detail created by Tommy and Zack.

Kevin: Sweeping base moldings right there.

Nicest entrance to a basement I've seen in a long time.

That is terrific.

Sunita: Yeah, no, it's really nice.

And then I'm going to take you over to the sitting room.

This room used to be a double parlor.

You remember?

Kevin: Room went from the front to the back the entire way.

Sunita: Front to the back.

And what we've decided to do is to be able to create two rooms and use this currently as a sitting room, but have it as a potential bedroom should we need to be able to move downstairs.

We have pocket doors on both sides so that we can close it off.

And then as you walk here, you can see this is going to be our new living room.

Remember, Jason put in this great sound system.

We're going to have a super media center.

Kevin: You guys will be spending a lot of time in this room.

Sunita: We'll be spending a lot of time in this room.

And you remember before we actually had a wall here, and there was a chimney behind in this space.

Now, we've got this large entryway, and over here, we have a fully accessible bathroom.

Kevin: So if you're in that bedroom on the first floor, full bathroom.

Sunita: Exactly.

Kevin: So smart future proofing.

Sunita: And then here is what was the original kitchen.

We only had one window in that space.

And we added another window, and we created a nice little, cozy little nook.

Kevin: That's a gorgeous corner right there.

Sunita: And we have some pantries and a coffee bar.

Kevin: Yep.

Sunita: Over here, we have our mud room.

This was the bench that was designed by our architect, built by Zack and Tommy.

It's the original footprint.

Kevin: Yeah.

Sunita: But it's just a dramatic difference.

Kevin: All of this space that we just traversed is the original footprint, but it's so much more open.

It's bright.

You guys just nailed the aesthetic.

Sunita: Thank you.

It really came out great.

♪♪ Tom: Boy, Asha, what a difference in the foyer here when you took out that fireplace and the chimney, moved the wall over.

You made a big space here for this stairway.

When you came in the front door, you almost walked into a wall.

Makes a big difference.

Asha: Huge difference.

And I don't know if you remember, but we actually had a bedroom right in this spot here.

Tom: I do.

Asha: Taking that out, revamped the whole thing.

Tom: Yeah.

Freed up the whole thing, and then you had a place to put the stairway to the third floor.

You took out the stairway that was about here that went in and over.

Asha: Yeah.

And we even have two bedrooms on this side now.

Tom: Yeah.

Asha: Laundry room back here.

Don't have to take our laundry down to the basement.

That's a big deal.

Asha: Huge deal.

But let me show you the biggest change.

Tom: Okay.

Asha: So check out in here.

Tom: Oh, what a difference, huh?

Asha: Yeah.

This is our new office.

Tom: Yeah, I remember you had a little dinky room here.

Asha: Yeah.

Tom: But now with this new space right here all the way back here you got a beautiful office.

Asha: A lot more room.

And there's even more.

Let me show you.

Tom: Alright.

Asha: So now we have this hallway here.

Tom: Nice, wide hall.

Asha: Yeah.

And this leads to our primary bathroom.

Tom: Oh, this is beautiful.

I love it.

Big shower, a lot of space.

Asha: So same story.

We've just expanding it out, became a new bathroom.

Tom: Yeah.

And then, I think, didn't it end right about this mirror?

Asha: Right about here.

And there was even a window here on the left.

Tom: That was crazy.

Asha: So now we have a closet here.

Tom: Yeah, big walk-in closet there.

That's nice.

Asha: And then our bedroom here.

Tom: This is a beautiful bedroom.

Asha: Yeah, we're really happy with it.

Tom: I mean, why wouldn't you be?

Look at all this natural light from these beautiful windows, high ceiling.

Asha: Yeah, we love it.

And it's at the back of the house, so it's pretty quiet.

Tom: So you should sleep well.

And I like the color.

It's nice and bright and the height of the ceiling.

Asha: We love it.

Tom: I can understand why.

Asha: Yeah.

♪♪ Kevin: Shankar, what an improvement.

That old staircase up to the attic, narrow, windy, not to code.

And now you've got this beauty.

Shankar: Absolutely.

Welcome to the third floor.

Kevin: Your space.

Shankar: Yep.

Our space, and that was the whole idea.

Okay, come on in.

Kevin: Beautiful.

Shankar: Yep.

Let me show you the shower stall here.

Full shower.

And look at the herringbone style tile work.

Kevin: With the elongated subway tile, although in a bright blue, beautiful.

Shankar: Absolutely.

Kevin: Glass doors, no curve.

You could roll right in.

Shankar: Exactly.

Kevin: So you've got the nice penny dot tile.

You got white in the field.

You got beautiful accents of blue.

Shankar: Right.

They provide nice contrast.

Kevin: So everything up here was sort of either half finished or unfinished attic space, and now you've got this.

Shankar: Look at the vanity with double sinks.

And then let's turn and the toilet is over there.

Kevin: Tons of room, high ceiling, another pop of color on that wall right there, and look at the light pouring in.

Shankar: And so much light.

Kevin: Yeah.

Lead on.

Let's see the rest of it.

Shankar: Yep.

Okay, Kevin.

Now let me show you the living space here.

Kevin: Double doors too.

Wow.

Look at this.

Shankar: I don't know if you recall what it used to be.

Kevin: Dark.

Shankar: Dark, like a dungeon type of a place.

And here we have these soaring windows.

Kevin: Beautiful.

Shankar: Bringing in so much light.

In addition, We have these two skylights... Kevin: Right.

Shankar: ...that bring in more light.

Kevin: So this is sort of a little escape for you and Sunita, right?

You can come up here.

Activity be going on downstairs.

Shankar: Absolutely.

And it's fully insulated.

Kevin: Alright.

Shankar: You could hardly hear anything.

Kevin: Very nice.

And then this is found space here 'cause that used to be blocked off.

Shankar: It complements the whole idea about this space.

So that's the nook.

Kevin: Beautiful.

Shankar: When you need to be read in private, in silence, and all that.

Kevin: Mm-hmm.

Shankar: You just escape to that place.

Kevin: Okay.

And then back here?

Shankar: Absolutely.

Let me show you now.

Our bedroom.

Kevin: Mm-hmm.

Shankar: And I don't know if you remember, it used to be a chimney right here.

Kevin: I remember.

Shankar: And the whole chimney was taken down piece by piece by Tommy and Zack.

Kevin: Right.

And look at all the found space you've got because of it.

Shankar: Absolutely.

Kevin: This is terrific.

Shankar: And then there's enough closet space here as well.

Kevin: And the knee walls right here, which is nice.

Shankar: Absolutely.

Kevin: And so bright because three big windows, wooden windows, historic district one.

Shankar: Yeah.

Filtering in light, more and more.

Kevin: How do you feel about sleeping under a roof line?

Shankar: Oh, we love it.

Kevin: Yeah.

It gives you a special feeling, really.

Kevin: So, again, no additional square footage.

You just reclaimed attic space and turned it into living space and to amazing effect.

You're gonna love it up here.

Shankar: Yeah.

♪♪ Jenn: Hey, Jason.

Jason: Hey, Jenn.

Jenn: This backyard is looking pretty sweet.

Jason: Thank you.

Jenn: I really like it.

I love how you have access from both doors from the inside out, and this really just pulls you to the backyard.

And then you have all that to look at.

Jason: Yeah, we have a beautiful yard.

And we're looking forward to spending so many weekends out here.

Jenn: Awesome.

Do you have any other future thoughts for what you might put in in the landscape?

Jason: Yeah, so we have this bare spot back here.

We're gonna put a ginkgo tree and probably a butterfly bush.

Jenn: Awesome.

And then throw a couple other perennials in?

It'll be beautiful.

Jason: It will be amazing.

Jenn: Awesome.

Let's go check out the front.

Jason: Alright, let's go.

Jenn: Alright.

Jason: We're really glad that Zack, you know, put a lot of effort in to saving these trees from the construction.

Jenn: Oh, absolutely.

I mean, you could even see them from the third floor.

So, these are all called cornice moss.

There's a Cornelian dogwood, one of the first to bloom in the spring.

Actually, one of Roger Cook's favorite trees.

Jason: Wow.

I didn't know that.

Jenn: They're beautiful.

Jason: They really are.

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

And I'm really glad that you kept some of the established shrubs that add scale to this whole front area.

And then over here, you got the boxwoods in.

Awesome.

Jason: It's looking really good.

Jenn: And then you and your family finished this walkway.

Jason: It was a big project, Jenn.

But it was so nice to have everyone out there.

Jenn: Your parents were working hard.

I was very impressed.

They did.

Jenn: Alright.

Well, I'm very proud of you.

Let's go check out the inside.

Jason: Thank you.

Yeah, let's go.

♪♪ Richard: Well, down here, we're in the basement.

It didn't look like this before.

When we first got here, it was like every basement -- dark and low ceiling, had a big chimney massing right here.

It had an original steam boiler 100 years old, untouched.

It had an old water heater.

So what they did is they cleared it all out, put big footings in here, elevated the entire ceiling, and all-new mechanical system.

And they have this floor.

Zack, this is quite the floor.

I don't think I've ever seen something like this in a mechanical room.

Zack: Yes, this is an epoxy floor.

And the really nice thing about it is there's a clear coat on top, which makes it really easy to clean up all of the debris that might accumulate down here.

Richard: It's a far cry from that dirt floor that was here.

Zack: Yeah.

Richard: Plenty of space for all the mechanicals, normally jammed in some corner.

I love you got instantaneous hot water heaters for the house.

Zack: Yeah, so the client picked an 80-gallon bathtub.

And that, when combined with the other three bathrooms and the washing machine, isn't really enough for one tankless unit to keep up with.

So we have the secondary one, which will help supplement that when you have that high draw for hot water.

Richard: So it's a brilliant solution because you've got the advantage of an instantaneous.

You know, there's no tank, so it can come on.

If you just open a little faucet, you want a little bit of hot water, only one will come on.

But they communicate with each other to just give you everything you need.

The other thing that's smart, it has a built-in recirculating pump.

You know, everybody wants to be able to open the hot water faucet the farthest bathroom away and have hot water, and that pump can do that.

But this thing's smart enough to learn how people live in the house and only bring the pump on during times you might need it.

Zack: Exactly.

Clients really didn't want to leave that water running all the time and waste the water, so that was important for them.

Richard: So, we hot water covered.

Great.

Now, the other thing about this project I loved was, you know, they had that sewer line that went out to the front, and it kept getting clogged by tree roots, and you found this great solution.

Zack: Yeah, I was lucky to know someone who does pipe bursting, and they basically dragged that long heat-fused pipe right through the old one.

Richard: It was so great to have a brand-new line without having to dig open the whole yard.

Zack: Yeah, the clients didn't have to pay for a new driveway, and they were able to save their trees that they loved.

Richard: Now, we were here before.

We also had what was it?

I was seven mini splits.

It was a mess of piping right here, and that's all gone.

Zack: Yeah.

So, we actually decided to go with heat pumps with a forced-air distribution on this job.

Richard: Yeah.

Zack: And of course, duct work can be tough to get through old houses.

Richard: Tough to go vertical up through the building.

Zack: Exactly.

So we thought of the house like three slices, right?

And put one heat pump on each floor.

Then it was just horizontal distribution with the ductwork.

Richard: So you get refrigeration piping to the individual units to condensers outside.

Now, the old systems were just on or off, right?

Thermostat would say come on, and there'd be a full blast, and they would shut off so that typically you're just trying to catch up with heat loss.

With these modern heat pumps, they're on and they modulate so that they keep up with the heat loss versus trying to catch up.

You know, the fans modulate, the amount of cooling or heating power from the refrigerant modulates according to how cold it is outside.

Zack: Right.

And that's an important message because a lot of feedback I get from clients when we're removing cast-iron radiators that they associate with comfort and we're telling them we're going to put forced air in, they think about this hot and cold temperature coming through the house.

Richard: Most hot-air systems are that way, yes.

Zack: Exactly.

So it's interesting to know that this one will be comfortable for the client.

Richard: Great.

So here's our unit for the first floor right here.

I love it.

You got refrigerate lines to here.

Supply goes out.

The fan pushes air out here through that duct work out to the registers, and then the air comes back through this common return back to the unit right here.

Zack: Right.

And this return is fine on this basement because we have plenty of extra square footage.

But on the second and third floor, we were trying to, you know, make this floor plan as big as possible.

So we actually deleted the return, lifted the unit up on a bracket so that the filter is accessible from the bottom, and then we just put a louver door on it and that louver door acts as the return.

Richard: So that's really smart because it means you've got easy access, so they'll change the filtration and you don't have that big cumbersome return grill, which is great.

Zack: Exactly.

You're not up on a ceiling doing it.

Richard: Well, I've seen a lot of mechanical.

This one's bigger than I've seen in most cases, but also it's logical.

It's really simple and the ductsmanship is perfect.

I mean, everything's sealed.

Everything's size is right.

You're on the A-Team.

Zack: I appreciate that.

[ Both laugh ] ♪♪ Sunita: This room used to be our family room, and my mother-in-law spent the most time here.

It was a kind of a small room.

And what we did is we created this large space for our kitchen.

Kevin: Huge space.

Sunita: With a peninsula and seating area.

We have this beautiful patio doors that go right outside and more counter space for us to be able to work in a multigenerational family, so we don't, you know, we don't get in each other's way.

Kevin: Giant run of counters, big windows to the outside.

So lots of light.

Sunita: This island -- This island was designed by our architect and created by Zack and his team from the old floor joists.

Remember the ones?

Kevin: Oh, yeah.

Termite damage.

Sunita: Termite damage.

And these were the ones that he was able to recover.

Kevin: What a great idea and a nice gift.

Sunita: Beautiful gift.

And here is our induction range.

Kevin: Yeah.

Have you used induction before?

Sunita: No, I have-- We haven't used it yet.

Kevin: Adopting the newest technology.

Sunita: Yep.

And more counter space that opens right into our dining room.

So you can see that it creates this beautiful space.

Kevin: Yeah.

Hey, Shankar.

So, there used to be a wall here blocking the dining room from the family room area, so now it's wide open.

Shankar: Absolutely.

And this is the refrigerator.

To fit the needs of a multigenerational, big family.

Kevin: Two families, three families, four you could serve out of that thing.

Shankar: And then next to it is the wine cellar.

Kevin: Look at you.

Shankar: Which falls in my alley.

Kevin: Yeah, you're the wine guy.

Shankar: Remember the old bottle that you found in the house in the house from 1887 when this house was built?

Kevin: Yes, right.

Shankar: Well, that wine, which was a French Bordeaux, was reflective of the Gilded Age of that time.

Kevin: And of this house.

Shankar: Right.

And this new house now, it has a character of its own, flexible, innovative, energy-efficient, sustainable and all that.

And for that, I've chosen this Super Tuscan called Tignanello.

Kevin: Tell me about this.

Shankar: Tignanello kind of set a new standard in wine making by blending different vintages super imposed on Sangiovese blend.

Kevin: So out with the old, in with the new.

Shankar: Absolutely.

Kevin: So my only question is do we just talk about that, or do we ever drink it?

Shankar: We'll have to wait for four or five years when this wine comes to its full maturity.

Kevin: Another reason to come back and visit.

Shankar: Absolutely.

Sunita: You're always welcome.

Kevin: And maybe we'll be sitting around the dining room table.

We'll be pouring glasses, and we'll be enjoying it right there.

Oh, and here they come, the rest of the crew.

Tom: Aim for the party.

Kevin: Probably an appropriate time to tell you, Sunita and Shankar, your hospitality is unmatched.

So we thank you for that.

Sunita: It's our pleasure.

And, Asha, Jason, we love what you're doing with the multigenerational living.

We hope you love your house just as much.

Jason: Thank you.

Kevin: Absolutely.

Tom: Camille and Zack, your attention to detail not only on the project site, but also on all of the woodwork is absolutely amazing.

You and your crew are talented people and they made this old house new again.

Zack: Oh, thank you so much, and we were so lucky to work with Dan and the rest of these amazing tradespeople here.

Tom: Yeah.

Richard: I hear we're not done.

We're going to be back here doing another project with you here in Ridgewood.

Zack: That's right.

Richard: We get to drive Route 95 some more.

[ Laughter ] Jenn: But before that, we're headed to Nashville for our next project.

Kevin: Absolutely, which is going to be the first episode of our next season, season 46.

So until then, on behalf of all of us here in New Jersey, I'm Kevin O' Connor signing off for "This Old House."

I think it's time for a wrap.

[ Applause ] I'm not buying the four years.

[ Laughter ] We're doing this now.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪