♪♪ Kevin: On "Ask This Old House," our experts travel across the country to answer questions about your house.

♪♪ Today, everything is rosy in Portland as Jenn visits the Rose Test Garden to find the perfect flower variety for a homeowner.

Jenn: When this all fills together, this is going to be a wall of color.

Kevin: Then Nathan helps a homeowner repair some bathroom tiles... and we have a little fun with the cast as we see how well we know our fans.

All that on "Ask This Old House."

♪♪ Jenn: I'm headed to Portland, Oregon, the City of Roses.

There are roses everywhere around here.

They line the streets, they mark street signs, and they're even imprinted on the sidewalks.

We had a homeowner write in from Portland looking for recommendations on how to plant a rose in her garden.

So I've decided to enlist a professional in the area.

Hey, Rachel.

Rachel: Hey, Jenn.

How you doing?

Good to see you.

Jenn: Good to see you, too.

Thanks for having me.

Rachel: Yeah.

Thanks for coming by the Rose Test Garden.

Jenn: I want to hear all about this place.

Rachel: Absolutely.

We are 4.5 acres.

Jenn: Yeah?

Rachel: We have over 10,000 roses and over 625 varieties.

Jenn: Okay.

Rachel: And it all started with this rose right here, Madame Caroline Testout.

Jenn: So beautiful.

Rachel: Back in 1905, Portland hosted the Lewis and Clark Expo, and we wanted to seal the deal, make sure we were the City of Roses.

Jenn: Yeah.

Rachel: So we planted over 10,000 of this very rose along the parade route.

Jenn: That must have been spectacular.

Rachel: Oh, it was gorgeous, I'm sure.

I wasn't there, but I can only imagine.

Jenn: So, what is so special about Portland?

What makes these roses thrive?

Rachel: We have cool nights... Jenn: Yep.

Rachel: ...warm summers, and mild winters.

And that is just the perfect equation for roses to thrive.

Jenn: So, what makes this a test garden?

Rachel: People forget that roses and plants are a product, just like anything else we find in the store.

Jenn: Right.

Rachel: And just like any other product, they have research and development.

So a company will hybridize a rose.

If they feel like it has potential, they'll send a few to us.

We'll plant it here, and we'll evaluate it.

The first thing we're looking for in a rose is, is it pretty?

And of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I would say this beautiful, colorful rose is very attractive.

Jenn: It makes me smile.

Rachel: Yes, it is very, very pretty.

Another thing we're looking for is disease resistance.

Jenn: Okay.

Rachel: We don't want to be spraying.

For the most part, this is a very clean rose.

That's how we describe roses that are disease resistant.

Jenn: Okay.

Rachel: Another thing we look is the habit.

It has a very uniform shape to it.

It isn't halfway here and half-- Jenn: Or lopsided.

Rachel: Yeah.

Exactly.

Lopsided.

There we go.

Jenn: It looks uniform all the way around.

Rachel: So that is a nice quality 'cause we also want to see how the bush looks.

So we would call that the bush habit.

Jenn: Okay.

Rachel: And now we're gonna look at the bloom habit.

Jenn: Okay.

Rachel: So we can see that, oh, we have all these buds coming that will replace the ones that are in full bloom.

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

So all the different stages of it from opening up... Rachel: Exactly.

Another quality that probably isn't as obvious is color finishing.

So, we have the bud itself.

Jenn: Okay.

Rachel: And it goes into its peak color.

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: And then color finishing.

Even though it's an older bloom, does it still have a nice, beautiful color?

Jenn: Right.

Rachel: I say it passed that test.

Jenn: I'd say so too.

Because, like, sometimes they just go brown and they're finished.

Rachel: Exactly.

So that extends that beauty, that bloom life.

Jenn: Yeah, just like the different sequences.

I love the transition of color.

The homeowner who wrote to me, I think you've seen the pictures, right?

Rachel: Yeah, actually, I paid her a visit.

Yeah.

Jenn: Oh, good.

Yeah, okay.

Cool.

Rachel: And she also mentioned she really likes a pastel-y kind of color palette.

So I'm gonna recommend the rose All Dressed Up.

Jenn: Okay.

All Dressed Up?

Rachel: Yep.

Yep.

It's a nice pink rose.

Very vigorous.

Jenn: Okay.

So I could pick that up, go over, and plant it with her, okay?

Rachel: Sounds wonderful.

Yeah.

Jenn: So, thank you for all this information.

It's so informative.

Like, I learned so much about roses today and all the different kinds and your whole testing system, it's fascinating.

Rachel: Well, thank you for letting me talk about my favorite thing.

I appreciate it.

Jenn: You know I'm gonna be calling you.

Rachel: Good luck.

Jenn: Thanks, Rachel.

♪♪ Hey, Catherine.

Catherine: Hi, Jenn.

Nice to meet you.

Jenn: Nice to meet you in person.

Catherine: Yeah.

Jenn: This is the rose that Rachel recommended.

Catherine: It's beautiful.

I love it.

Jenn: Where would you like to plant it?

Catherine: I think in back.

Jenn: Alright.

You want to show me?

Catherine: Yeah, that'd be great.

Jenn: Cool.

Wow, you have a really cool backyard.

Catherine: Oh, thank you.

Jenn: I like the feeling.

Where would you like to have this rose?

Catherine: So we have these two rose bushes right here that we love, but we have this blank space in between.

We thought it might be nice to have a little color there.

Jenn: You know what?

I think you might be right.

I'm gonna set it up.

You stay right there... Catherine: Alright.

Jenn: ...and tell me if it fills the void alright.

What do you think?

Catherine: It's beautiful.

Jenn: Alright, well, if you thumps-up, let's get the shovels then.

Catherine: Alright.

Jenn: Cool.

♪♪ We're gonna put some compost in the hole.

And then just get your hands in there and we'll mix it.

Then I'm going to take this out carefully.

I like that it's not all pot-bound, right?

Catherine: Yeah.

Jenn: I think that looks pretty good.

Let's back fill.

Catherine: Okay.

♪♪ Jenn: Alright.

And all we need is a little water.

Catherine: Alright.

Jenn: Great job.

Nice soaking.

Let's take a step back and see what it all looks like.

Catherine: Wow.

It's beautiful.

I'm so excited to have that space filled with that beautiful color.

Thank you for coming to Portland.

Jenn: Thanks for having me.

Thanks for writing in.

Catherine: Yeah, you're welcome.

Jenn: Take care.

Catherine: Alright.

♪♪ Nathan: Hi, Andrew.

Andrew: Hi, Nathan.

Nathan: Nice to meet you.

Andrew: Nice to meet you.

Thanks for coming.

Nathan: Beautiful house you have here.

Andrew: Thank you very much.

Yeah.

We moved in at the end of August.

The previous owner built this house in 1972.

She aged in place.

Nathan: Wow.

Andrew: And as part of it, she had some handicapped accessible bars in the bathroom.

Nathan: Okay, some grab bars on the walls?

Andrew: Yes.

Nathan: Oh, yeah, we definitely had a grab bar right here.

And looking around the room, it looks like we actually had quite a few grab bars.

Andrew: Quite a few, and we took them out.

We were left with holes in the tiles.

Nathan: This is a pretty custom tile.

Might be kind of hard to find.

Andrew: Oh, actually, the previous owner left us with a garage full of these.

Nathan: Oh, fantastic.

Nice, simple, four-by-four ceramic tile with built-in spacers, called lugs, on the side.

This is going to save us a ton of time and a lot of headaches.

We can easily swap that out.

You know, we do want to try and find out what's behind this.

It could be a variety of things.

It could be plaster over wood lath.

It could be plaster over maybe a metal lath.

My guess is probably gypsum board.

But we will find out as we start to demo it.

You do have a lot of holes around the room.

So what I'd like to do is focus on one area, show you everything you need to do to fix that and make that repair, and then I'm gonna leave you with all the materials so you can repair the rest.

Andrew: That'd be great.

Thank you.

Nathan: Alright, let's get started.

So to get started with removing these tiles, I want to step back and look and find that coursing 'cause we know that we want to swap out a full tile.

I can see that there's a full tile here and a full tile there.

And holding that over, you can pick up that there's holes drilled into that tile below.

So we definitely want to remove these two, and we want to do that as gently as possible.

So I'm going to relieve the grout all the way around those two tiles.

And then I'm going to slowly start to chisel those away.

You want to keep going with this?

Andrew: Sure.

Nathan: Alright.

Alright, so the goal is to get kind of like that right there, that nice clean line.

We want to do that all the way around.

Andrew: Alright.

Nathan: Nice.

So one key is, if we're going to pry, we only want to pry on the stuff that we're taking out.

We don't want to pry on anything that we want to stay.

Andrew: Alright.

Nathan: We just keep working our way down, nice and careful.

These little parts that come off can be sharp, so it's good to wear gloves when you're working with tile, ceramic or porcelain.

You know, an edge like that just might get you.

Andrew: That is a sharp edge.

Nathan: Yeah.

So it's about what we expected.

Gypsum board back here.

Luckily, there's not really too much adhesive left, and there's still some paper to bond to, so it's going to blend right in.

I'd like to prep the surface a little bit.

So I'm gonna vacuum it.

So we got all the heavy stuff off.

And now I'm just gonna take a sponge and just try and get any of the powder, any of the light stuff off.

Alright, so we got those old tiles demoed out, time to put the new ones in.

And for that, I picked up a few supplies.

I picked up this tile repair mortar.

It's kind of a newer product, but I think it's gonna be just perfect for us, 'cause we're just doing a few small tiles here and there, has a really fast drying time, between one to two hours, and then we can grout.

If I had picked up a traditional thin-set, even a premixed thin-set, they have about a 24-hour drying time, so you would have been grouting on your own.

Andrew: Alright.

Nathan: So we'll use this, we'll mix a little bit of water in with it.

We'll use a notched trowel to apply it to the back of the tile.

This is disposable.

We can clean it up if we want, or we can just let it go.

Now, once the tile is firmed up and it's ready to be grouted, we have some options there, too.

I picked up unsanded grout, which is what we need for this application.

It's a really small, almost a 16th-of-an-inch grout line.

You use sanded grout for much larger grout lines typically on floors.

So this is a wall application, we'll do an unsanded, and we have two different ways we can do it.

We have powdered that we can mix with water and apply it with a sponge float.

A little bit messier, way more than we need.

We have this option, premixed.

We have the right color, put it into a caulking tube, apply it right where we need it, tool it off, and it'll look perfect.

I think we'll go with this one.

So all we need to do now is just get those tiles installed.

Andrew: Let's do it.

Nathan: Alright.

So to get started, I'm gonna take some construction adhesive and fill these three voids that they're gonna be left behind the tile.

That way if someday someone comes along and drills into it, they don't hit a void.

Andrew: Right.

Nathan: So now we're ready to start mixing up our tile repair mortar.

And I have four ounces of cool water.

So I'm gonna add -- I'm gonna add half.

And then I'm gonna start stirring that in.

Andrew: Like we're making bread?

Nathan: Yep.

Perfect.

♪♪ Get a nice even coat, and then we're gonna strike off the back with an eighth-inch notch trowel.

Andrew: Why that size?

Nathan: It's gonna leave a nice little bead like that.

It's not too heavy.

It allows it to squish off and fill up the space.

Start with the bottom one.

Tuck it right in there.

♪♪ ♪♪ Looks good.

Looks good.

Good.

♪♪ Alright, now we're gonna let that set up for about an hour or two, and then we'll grout it.

Andrew: Great.

♪♪ Nathan: So I'm gonna start with a simple little bead down this long joint here, going really gentle, really slow, forcing it in.

♪♪ Here, you hold that.

♪♪ We are gonna clean it up with this pencil eraser.

♪♪ Perfect.

♪♪ ♪♪ Alright, you're all set.

What do you think?

Andrew: That looks great.

Nathan: That easy.

So I'm gonna leave all the materials you need to go around and hit all the other spots that you got.

Andrew: Yeah, I'll get to work.

Thank you.

Nathan: Alright.

Take care.

♪♪ Kevin: Well, another season of "Ask This Old House" is coming to an end.

Season 22.

22 years, gang.

Long time.

And it's important to know that it's still a great show mostly because of you.

We love getting your questions about your houses, and we also love getting your feedback, good or bad.

And I thought today we would do something where we actually take some comments that viewers have sent us, because we do read them, and share them with you guys so that you can hear their thoughts and maybe have a chance to defend yourself.

Nathan, can I start with you?

Nathan: Let's go.

Kevin: This is a comment that came in about the utility cover project in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Do you remember that one?

Nathan: Yep.

Kevin: "No, no, no, no!

This is Oklahoma we're talking about.

A strong wind storm -- never mind a mild tornado -- is going to pick that thing up and toss it around, especially since it's three sided.

You made a perfect wind sail!

There's a reason whoever did the old one drove it into the ground."

End quote.

Nathan: Who's the quote from?

Kevin: That one is from billb (underscore) 2673 on YouTube.

Man: Oh, Billy.

Nathan: Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy.

[ Laughter ] Um...

So the obvious thing is, like, when you put something on the ground, you want to drive in stakes, you really want to secure it.

But around a gas meter, we don't really want to start doing that.

And the thing I don't want to do is teach homeowners to start driving stakes around a gas meter, right?

Tom: Right.

Nathan: So I'd rather build that thing and put a little bit of weight on it.

If it tips over or if it falls over, that's fine.

You can right it.

But I'm not gonna teach people to start driving stakes in the ground.

Funny thing is that I actually heard from Dwayne.

Kevin: The homeowner?

Nathan: And they had a tornado.

And when we were building it, we did it under their carport.

And that got ruined.

But the wind sail I built didn't go anywhere.

Kevin: Ohh!

Nathan: So it did stay there.

So... Kevin: Fair enough.

Moving on.

Jenn?

Jenn, you ready for yours?

Rain garden project, Portland, Oregon.

You remember this one?

Jenn: Yeah, that was a fun one.

Kevin: Quote, "Didn't go over calling the right numbers for making lines before digging in your yard.

Gotta unsubscribe."

Ouch!

Jenn: Well, sorry to see you go!

Kevin: Ooh.

Jenn: Ooh.

Kevin: Bring 'em back.

Bring 'em back.

Jenn: Listen, we call 8-1-1 for every single project.

It's the law.

So whether we're allowed to say it or not on TV, might have to blame the producers on this one.

Kevin: Oooh!

Jenn: Sorry.

There are so many lessons to be taught on this rain garden, and we just could not fit it in.

But I assure you, we called more than 72 hours in advance and we're, number one, safety.

Kevin: Okay.

Jenn: That's what Roger taught us all, too, right?

Richard: Did she just throw the producers under the bus?

Kevin: Either a producer's not coming back for next season or Jenn's not coming back.

Jenn: Sorry!

Love you guys!

Kevin: Stay tuned.

Tom: Nice going, Jenn.

Kevin: Richard, you're up next.

Richard: Oh, boy.

Kevin: Hot-water-heater troubleshoot.

Do you remember this one?

Richard: Bring it on.

Kevin: Quote, "I enjoy all aspects of 'This Old House' and 'Ask This Old House' but have to say that you guys always seem to go for the most expensive and complicated heating/cooling systems.

Ever heard of KISS?

Keep It Simple, Sam."

End quote.

Well, he was polite about it.

Richard: Well, I think you'll all agree that, you know, talking about a simple heat-pump water heater in 2024 is really over the top, right?

Kevin: Ohh!

Tom: Oh, yeah.

Richard: Next season, we're gonna just show the complete installation of a coal stove.

So, look, we've been doing this for a long time.

We want to show the best, newest, coolest way to do it so it educates the entire population.

So it's part of the magic of the show, I think, is how we find the next cool thing.

All of us are trying to find the next thing.

We want it to work, but we want it to be cool.

Jenn: Current.

Richard: Yeah, current.

So... Alright, so we lost him, too.

Kevin: Alright.

Well, there you go.

So, from father to son.

Ross, you ready?

This is a comment that comes in about the low-level CO segment that you and I did together.

Ross: Yeah.

Of course.

Kevin: Quote, "There has been carbon monoxide in the atmosphere since the dawn of time.

'Zero' is never going to happen, and low levels are not going to kill you as over time, the CO does come out of your system just more slowly.

You even exhale CO2 and CO when you breathe."

End quote.

Sounds like something I would've written to you... Ross: Yeah.

Kevin: ...a couple seasons ago.

Ross: I mean, he's onto something to some degree.

First off, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, two completely different things, right?

When you burn something, a byproduct is carbon monoxide.

What we breathe out is carbon dioxide.

So two different things there.

But he's right.

I said "zero," I think, in the segment.

I should have been a little bit more nuanced and said somewhere in the 0.1 to 1.0 PPM range for where carbon monoxide is in the atmosphere.

Richard: He would do the 0.1.

I would round up.

Ross: 0.1 is pretty, pretty low.

Pretty close to zero.

But I should have probably clarified that.

Kevin: What kind of children did you raise?

Richard: I know.

I know.

Kevin: Unbelievable.

Richard: They're generalists.

Tom: How do you live with yourself?

Ross: Stickler.

Kevin: Alright, Mauro, you're up next.

Mauro: I'm here.

Kevin: You ready for this one?

This is about the whitewashing the antique bench that you and I worked on.

Mauro: Oh, that looked good.

Kevin: Apparently, not according to this gentleman.

Quote, "Although it looks ugly..." Mauro: Ohh!

Kevin: "...they both had a lot of fun and joy during this project, and that's actually what matters the most."

End quote.

Well, that's good.

At least they gave us credit for having fun.

They didn't like the look.

Mauro: Right?

We deal with that.

Well, I mean, a project like this, a lot of people will say, "Whoa.

What are you doing?"

People have different tastes and different ways to work on... And you have fun at the end of the day, like you said.

We had lots of fun.

Richard: As long as you have fun.

Kevin: We did have fun.

Alright.

So there you go.

Lee.

Lee: What do we got?

[ Laughter ] Kevin: If you're gonna hang on a team, you better take your licks.

Lee: Let's go.

Kevin: Introductory segment, when we first brought you on right here.

Lee: [ Boston accent ] My personal opinion, a well-maintained lawn should not have any weeds in it, such as creeping Charlie, clover.

When you get your fresh-cut lawn in the springtime, it looks nice and sharp.

Kevin: "TOH is just perfect when I hear this accent.

Nothing brings me more joy than hearing 'CrEEpin ChAHly'..." Lee: "CrEEpin ChAHly."

Kevin: ..."and 'lookin' shAHp.'

[ Laughter ] Welcome, Lee."

End quote.

Lee: The old Boston accent.

Kevin: The old Boston accent.

Tom: I didn't notice it.

[ Laughter ] Lee: We sound alike.

You taught me a lot.

Mark: Nobody knows what you're talking about.

Kevin: Nobody knows.

Season 23, Lee will be back in the "yahd."

Speaking of "yahd," "Mahk."

Mark: What, what?

Tom: Oh, boy.

Kevin: "Mahk."

Railing installation project?

Remember that one?

Mark: Yeah.

Yes.

Kevin: This is a short one.

Mark: Oh.

Kevin: Quote, "Matching haircuts.

Brilliant."

[ Laughter ] Mark: Here I am, I thought Richard was the bald one on the cast.

[ Laughter ] Tom: You got him beat.

Mark: What?!

Kevin: What else can we say?

Mark: I think there's -- he's stating the obvious, and God bless him.

Kevin: We like you just the way you are.

Mark: Well, thank you.

Kevin: We like you just the way you are.

Heath, you're next.

Heath: Oh, boy.

Kevin: Patio-string-light segment.

Heath: Oh, yeah.

That was fun.

Kevin: Okay.

Now, you have to understand every other letter is capitalized.

Heath: That can't be good.

Kevin: Quote, "Have an electrician install an outlet if you don't have one.

Anyways, here's how to plug a string of lights into an outlet."

Heath: Is that sarcasm?

That sounded like sarcasm.

Kevin: I don't think they thought you brought your "A" game here.

Heath: So, you're trying to show projects of different levels, different DIY levels of capability.

I mean, some are simple, some are more difficult.

We've shown installing a receptacle plenty of times before.

If you need to add the receptacle, go look at another one.

Jenn: Right.

All different levels, right?

Tom: I thought it was great.

I liked it.

Kevin: Alright.

Tommy, I think we got everyone but you.

Last one here.

This was a comment written in response to the Levels 101 segment.

You've done a lot of 101s.

Tom: Yeah.

Kevin: Quote, "Tom Silva is the GOAT."

End quote.

User name TomSilva23... [ Laughter ] This is when you say, "No, no.

I'm not the GOAT."

Tom: Is that good?

Kevin: He doesn't know what the GOAT is.

The GOAT is "Greatest Of All Time."

"Tommy is the greatest of all time."

Tom: Hey, well, thank you for that.

Mark: [ Laughs ] Kevin: Well-deserved.

Tom: Alright.

Let's move on.

Kevin: "Let's move on."

Last one is actually written to all of us as a group collectively.

A very nice one which I will read.

A little long, but hang with me here.

Quote, "I hope these comments trickle back to the folks we see on the show.

I love both 'Ask This Old House' and 'This Old House.'

I've been a viewer going all the way back to Bob.

The show is basic, yet complex.

It's wholesome.

It's about people helping people.

It's about pride in craftsmanship and a willingness to both teach and learn.

The chemistry of the pros is nothing less than amazing.

What always strikes me is the pride the pros take in explaining things on both shows.

It's a genuine passion to share their years of experience and accept nothing less than top-notch work.

There is no 'good enough' in these folks.

Enjoy Kevin just as much.

Keep up the amazing work."

End quote.

Richard: Beautiful.

Jenn: Aww!

Tom: That was very nice.

Kevin: That's very nice.

Richard: So we got one good viewer that really likes us.

Heath: Great way to come across.

Tom: It's like I said, we're just passing on the information that we know and helping our viewers out in any way we can.

Kevin: Well, I think we're doing a little bit more than that, but we are definitely sending our appreciation out to all of you.

We love getting your letters.

We do actually read them.

So make sure you keep them coming for next season.

And do know that this person is right.

We do love each other, we do have a ton of fun doing it, and we do love working for you.

So come back for season 23, and on behalf of all of us, I'm Kevin O'Connor signing off for "Ask This Old House."

Give yourselves a round.